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MESSAGE 


OF 


$ott.  (Seorge  p.  jWcClellan 


THE  MAYOR 


TO  THE 


BOARD  OF  ALDERMEN 


PURSUANT  TO  SECTION  115 
OF.  THE 

GREATER  NEW  YORK  CHARTER 


New  York,  January  4,  1909 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/messageofhongeorOOmccl 


M ESSAGE 

OF 

%on.  #eorge  p.  JflcCleltan 

THE  MAYOR 

TO  THE 

BOARD  OF  ALDERMEN 


PURSUANT  TO  SECTION  115 
OF  THE 

GREATER  NEW  YORK  CHARTER 


New  York,  January  4,  1909 


MARTIN  B.BROWN 
A  PRESS  * 


New  Fork,  January  k  L909. 

To  the  Honorable  the  Board  of  Aldermen 

of  The  City  of  New  York: 

Gentlemen — In  compliance  with  the  requirements 
of  the  Charter,  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  to  you  a 
general  statement  of  the  finances  of  the  City  which  lias 
been  furnished  to  me  by  the  Comptroller: 


Debt  Statement  as  of  January  1,  1909. 
The  City  Debt. 
Funded  Debt  { Including  Special  Revenue  Bonds). 

December  31,     December  31,     December  31, 
1906.  1907.  1908. 

Gross  Funded  Debt   *$665,697,392  06  f $735,014,965  05  $$808,433,984  09 

Less  amount  thereof  held  by  the  Commis- 
sioners of  the  Sinking  Fund   ^191,044,186  94    fl97,437,164  02    $210,421,340  02 

Net   Funded  Debt   $474,653,205  12    $537,577,801  03    $598,012,644  07 

474,653,205  12     537,577,801  03 


Increase  in  the  year  1907  of  Net  Funded  Debt   $62,924,595  91 

Increase  in  the  year  1908  of  Net  Funded  Debt   $60,434,843  04 

Add  increase  in  the  year  1907  of  Xet  Funded  Debt   62,924,595  91 


Total  increase  in  the  years  1907  and  1908  of  Xet  Funded  Debt.  .    $123,359,438  95 

*  Includes  $40,750,000  of  General  Fund  Bonds,  issued  pursuant  to  Chapter  103  of  the 
Laws  of  1903. 

f  Includes  $54,250,000  of  General  Fund  Bonds,  issued  pursuant  to  Chapter  103  of  the 
Laws  of  1903. 

t  Includes  $68,750,000  of  General  Fund  Bonds,  issued  pursuant  to  Chapter  103  of  the 
Laws  of  1903. 

Temporary  Debt. 


December  31, 

December  31, 

December  31, 

1906. 

1907. 

1908. 

Revenue  Bonds  Issued  in  Anticipation  of  Taxes. 

Amounts  Outstanding — - 

Revenue  Bonds  of  1902                                 $3,130,000  00  $100,000  00   

Revenue  Bonds  of  1903                                    7,800,000  00  5,000,000  00  10,000  00 

Revenue  Bonds  of  1904                                   9,225,000  00  1,000,000  00  2,570,000  00 

Revenue  Bonds  of  1905                                 10,150,000  00  7,000,000  00  7,400,000  00 

Revenue  Bonds  of  1906                                  20,107,270  00  9,397,210  00  9,160,000  00 

Revenue  Bonds  of  1907   31,148,826  92  13,625,000  00 

Kevenue  Bonds  of  1908   41,241,600  00 


$50,412,270  00     $53,646,036  92  $74,006,600  00 

50,412,270  00  53,646,036  92 

Increase  in  the  year  1907  in  Temporary  Debt   $3,233,766  92 

Increase  in  the  year  1908  in  Temporary  Debt   $20,360,563  08 

Add  increase  in  the  year  1907  in  Temporary  Debt   3,233,766  92 


Total  increase  in  the  years  1907  and  1908  in  Temporary  Debt   $23,594,330  00 


4 


Sim  mary. 


Increase  in  the  year  1907  in  Xet  Funded  Debt 
Increase  in  the  year  1907  in  Temporary  Debt. 


$62,924,595  91 
3,233,766  92 


Total  increase  in  the  year  1907  in  Net  Bonded  Debt 

Increase  in  the  year  1908  in  Net  Funded  Debt   $ 

Increase  in  the  year  1908  in  Temporary  Debt  


$60,434343  1 1 1 
20,360,563  08 


S<ili,l.jS,:WJ 


Total  increase  in  the  year  1908  in  Net  Bonded  Debt 


so,79.5.U«i  1J 


Total  increase  for  the  years  1907  and  1908  in  Net  Funded 
Debt   


si  23,359,438  95 


Total  increase  for  the  years  1907  and  1908  in  Temporary 


Debt 


33,594,330  00 


Total  increase  for  the  years  1907  and  1908  in  Net  Bonded  Debt.  .    $1  16,953,768  95 


The  foregoing  statement  displays  the  debt  of  the  City  so  far  as  its 
funded  and  temporary  debts  are  concerned. 

To  ascertain  the  borrowing  capacity  or  margin  for  incurring 
further  indebtedness  we  must  take  into  consideration  an  item  no! 
shown  in  the  foregoing  statement.  That  item  consists  of  obligations 
incurred  by  the  City  in  connection  with  contracts  entered  into:  the 
liability  accruing  for  lands  acquired  in  condemnation  proceedings  and 
not  paid  for,  and  the  liability  of  the  City  on  account  of  judgments  in 
litigations  not  yet  liquidated. 


5 


The  condition  of  the  City's  finances  in  relation  to  its  borrowing 
capacity  or  margin  for  incurring  further  indebtedness  on  October  1, 
L908,  was  as  follows: 

Ten  (10)  per  cent,  of  the  Assessed  Valuation  of  Taxable  Real  Estate  for  1908.    $672,241,578  90 
Net   Funded  Debt  (chargeable  against 

Constitutional  Limitation)    $543,869,679  09 

Net    Contract    Liability  (chargeable 

against    Constitutional  Limitation)  45,487,533  22 
For     Lands     Acquired  (Estimated) 

(chargeable   against  Constitutional 

Limitation)    18,935,961  76 

Revenue  Bonds  of  1902  issued  in  1905,  out- 
standing October  I,  1908   $100,000  00 

Revenue  Bonds  of  1903  issued  in  1905,  out- 
standing October  1,  1908   5,000,000  00 

Revenue  Bonds  of  1904  issued  in  1905  and 

1907,  outstanding  October  I,  1908   3,24-9,000  00 

Revenue  Bonds  of  1905  issued  in  1907,  out- 
standing October  1,  1908   7,000,000  00 

Revenue  Bonds  of  1906  issued  in  1907,  out- 
standing October  1,  1908   9,376,210  00 


$608,293,174  01 


24,725,210  00 


633,018,384  07 
$39,223,194  83 

There  remains  at  October  I,  1908,  of  the  Proceeds  of  the  Sale  of  Bonds,  the 
following  amount,  which  has  not  been  apportioned  and  transferred  to  the 
credit  of  the  various  Accounts  on  account  of  which  said  Bonds  were 
authorized  to  be  sold    5,110,361  28 


Estimated  Margin  at  October  1,  1908   ^44,333,556  11 


6 


There  are  three  subjects  now  uppermost  in  the  public  mind,  con- 
cerning which  I  have  addressed  you  in  previous  messages.    They  are: 
Uncolleeted  taxes, 
The  City  debt, 
City  expenditures. 

I  rNCOLLECTED  TAXES. 

In  my  message  of  January,  1905,  I  pointed  out  the  danger  to  tlx 
City's  finances  and  credit  of  making  inadequate  provision  for  uncol- 
lectible taxes,  and  presented  an  estimate  of  the  arrears  for  which  no 
provision  had  been  made,  amounting  at  that  time  to  over  thirty  million 
dollars.  I  appointed  a  Commission  to  consider  this  subject  and  to 
suggest  methods  of  more  prompt  collection. 

As  a  result  of  the  work  of  that  Commission,  provision  has  been 
made  for  funding  the  uncollectible  arrears  then  existing  and  for  ade- 
quate provision  for  subsequent  uncollectible  arrears.  The  Commis- 
sion also  recommended  and  the  Legislature  enacted  a  law  for  the 
prompt  collection  of  real  estate  taxes. 

Debt. 

During  the  last  five  years  the  borrowing  power  of  the  City  has 
increased  one  hundred  and  ninety-seven  millions,  or  a  little  more  than 
thirty-nine  millions  a  year  on  the  average.  In  my  message  of  1905 
I  stated  that  debt  for  ordinary  purposes  should  not  he  incurred  to  the 
extent  of  more  than  thirty  to  thirty-five  millions  annually.  1  have 
caused  to  be  prepared  a  statement  of  the  corporate  stock  issued  since 
January  1,  1904.  showing  the  amount  issued  for  purposes  to  which 
the  City  was  committed  prior  to  that  date,  and  the  amounts  issued  for 
purposes  authorized  subsequent  to  that  date.  The  statement  is  printed 
as  an  appendix  to  this  message. 

The  total  issue  of  corporate  stock  has  been  $298,945,094,  and  of 
this  amount  the  sum  of  $151,330,602  was  issued  l  or  purposes  to  which 


the  City  was  committed  prior  to  11)04.  The  remainder,  $146,935,186, 
was  issued  for  purposes  authorized  since  1903,  and  averages  some- 
what less  than  thirty  millions  a  year. 

The  main  items  of  the  total  issue  are  as  follows: 

Water    $39,625,098 

Rapid  Transit   19,440,825 

Schools    55,638,230 

Public  Buildings   27,312,420 

Bridges    40,950,183 

Public  Works  (Streets  and  Roads)   47,995,936 

Docks  and  Ferries   41,404,422 

All  other  purposes   26,577,980 

Total   $298,945,094 

The  same  items  of  the  issues  for  purposes  authorized  since  Janu- 
ary 1,  1904.  are  as  follows: 

Water   $21,269,636  14.5  % 

Rapid  Transit    3,389,602  2.32% 

Schools    38,787,300  26.4  % 

Public  Buildings   8,546,668  05.83% 

Bridges  .   514,372  00.35% 

Public  Works  (Streets  and  Roads)  .  .  .      22,233,398  15.1  % 

Docks  and  Ferries   35,789,732  24.3  % 

All  other  purposes   16,404,478  11.2  % 


Total   $146,935,186  100  % 

More  than  one-quarter  of  this  entire  debt  has  been  incurred  for 
schools,  in  the  effort  to  keep  pace  with  the  ever-increasing  number  of 
children  demanding  education.  Nearly  another  quarter  has  been 
spent  for  docks  and  ferries,  an  expense  in  large  part  forced  upon  the 
City. 

8 


More  than  eleven  million  dollars  have  been  spe  nt  in  the  last  live- 
years  on  the  Chelsea  improvement  alone,  $4,333,219.93  having  been 
devoted  to  the  acquisition  of  property. 

The  water  supply  was  necessary  to  the  very  existence  of  the  City, 
and  the  great  expense  for  repaving  was  urgently  demanded  for  com- 
fort and  convenience,  besides  being  essential  for  the  preservation  of 
proper  sanitary  conditions.  These  four  items  account  for  over  HO 
per  cent,  of  the  corporate  stock  issued  for  purposes  authorized  sine* 
January  1,  1904. 

Budget  Expenditures. 

The  population  has  increased  17.2  per  cent,  in  five  years,  and  be- 
sides the  increase  of  population,  the  increase  in  the  prices  of  com- 
modities and  the  general  cost  of  living  must  be  taken  into  account  in 
any  consideration  of  the  increase  in  current  expenses.  This  increase 
may  conservatively  be  stated  as  15  per  cent.,  so  that  3*2  per  cent,  is  the 
least  increase  which  might  be  expected  in  the  cost  of  supplies  and 
salaries  not  fixed  by  law,  without  making  allowance  for  other  impor- 
tant causes  which  have  affected  the  City's  expenditures. 

In  order  that  the  Budget  increase  may  be  studied  and  easily  com- 
prehended, I  have  caused  to  be  prepared  a  statement  showing  the  ap- 
propriations for  1904  and  1909,  together  with  the  increase  for  each 
item  and  the  percentage  which  the  increase  in  each  separate  appropria- 
tion is  of  the  total  increase  in  the  Budget  for  1909  over  the  Budget  for 
1904,    This  statement  appears  in  the  appendix  previously  referred  to. 

The  City  Budget  for  1909.  exclusive  of  the  County  Budgets  and 
the  item  for  deficiency  in  the  collection  of  taxes  exceeds  the  C  ity 
Budget  for  1904  by  ^4.5.483,644.  This  is  a  great  sum,  and  it'  there 
were  reason  to  believe  that  the  expenditures  of  the  City  must  continue 
to  increase  at  the  same  rate  there  might  be  cause  for  alarm.  There  is, 
however,  no  ground  for  such  fear,  if  the  same  care  continues  to  he  exer- 
cised in  estimating  City  expenses  and  preparing  the  Budget. 

9 


The  first  nine  items  on  the  statement  account  for  80  per  cent,  of 
the  Increase,  and  the  first  item  accounts  for  38%  per  cent.  This  first 
item  is  the  payment  on  account  of  principal  and  interest  of  the  City 
debt.  As  appears  from  the  statement  of  the  issues  of  corporate  stock, 
vast  undertakings  were  in  progress  five  years  ago,  for  which  over  one 
hundred  and  fifty-one  millions  of  corporate  stock  have  been  issued. 

The  last  five  years  lias  been  a  period  of  development  and  expan- 
sion  rendered  necessary  by  the  expansion  of  the  territory  of  the  old 
C  ity  of  New  York  from  sixty-two  square  miles  to  three  hundred  and 
twenty-seven,  and  the  extension  of  City  methods  and  conveniences  over 
a  large  part  of  this  vast  area.  What  has  been  done  and  what  it  cost 
more  fully  appeal*  in  the  description  of  the  work  of  the  various  City 
departments. 

While  the  increase  in  expenditure  has  been  very  great,  the 
growth  in  the  actual  value  of  real  estate,  together  with  certain  changes 
in  financial  methods,  have  reduced  the  average  tax  burden  on  the  true 
value  of  property  below  what  it  was  before  or  immediately  after  con- 
solidation. 

It  is  easily  demonstrated  that  Brooklyn,  Queens  and  Richmond 
do  not  pay  anything  like  the  money  spent  upon  them,  and  partly  be- 
cause of  this  fact  the  total  taxes  levied  in  Richmond  in  1908  were 
$59,078  less  than  the  total  taxes  levied  in  1901.  In  many  of  the  old 
parts  of  Brooklyn,  where  real  estate  has  not  been  much  improved,  and 
values  have  not  greatly  increased,  the  taxes  levied  in  1908  were  less 
than  in  1897.  For  example,  in  all  or  parts  of  Wards  1  to  12,  also  20, 
21  and  23,  the  aggregate  taxes  in  1897  were  $4,280,364,  and  in  1908 
$3,909,049.  so  that  the  aggregate  taxes  paid  in  1908  were  less  by 
$371,314  than  the  taxes  on  the  same  property  in  1897,  in  spite  of  new 
buildings  on  which  the  tax  was  $220,242,  which  is  included  in  the  total 
for  1908. 


en  in  Manhattan,  where  values  have  risen  enormously,  there 
are  some  blocks,  as,  for  example,  blocks  178,  180,  197,  199,  500  and 
514.  in  the  neighborhood  of  Broadway  and  Spring  Street,  where  I In- 
aggregate  tax  levied  on  real  estate  in  1908  is  less  than  the  tax  for 
1899,  by  the  sum  of  $39,779,  in  spite  of  the  new  buildings  erected. 

In  considering  taxes  levied,  the  impulse  is  to  regard  merely  the 
totals.  This  gives  a  mistaken  and  misleading  impression.  The  tax 
rate  is  always  a  percentage  on  assessed  value,  and  if  the  has*  on  w  hich 
the  tax  is  levied  increases  enormously,  the  total  of  taxes  ought  to  rise. 
This  is  the  case  in  The  City  of  Xew  York.  Land  values  have  in- 
creased tremendously  to  the  enrichment  of  the  owners,  and  the  tax 
has  not  increased  proportionately. 

The  first  nine  items  of  the  Budget  with  the  increase  of  1909  over 
1901,  which  account  for  80  per  cent,  of  the  total  increase,  are  as  fol- 
lows : 

Budget  Increase  1909  Oveb  ido  l 

Percent,  of 
Total  Inc.  of 
Increase       Budget  of  1  *>()«» 


1909  ovei 

1904. 

over  1904. 

Debt  service  (principal,  interest  and 

installments )   

$17,51 1 

788 

38.501 

Department  of  Education  

6,557 

719 

14.417 

2,156 

MM 

fc.740 

2.071 

265 

4.553 

Department  of  Street  Cleaning  

1,970 

587 

fc.332 

1,91  I 

101 

fc.209 

Department     of      Water  Supply, 
Gas  and  Electricity  

1,711 

291 

3.762 

1,375 

167 

3.02  t 

1,319 

731 

2.910 

11 


These  departments  have  to  do  with  the  care  of  life,  health,  educa- 
tion and  prope  rty.  The  difficulty  and  cost  of  this  duty  is  immensely 
affected  by  the  fact  that  New  York  is  the  great  port  of  entry  for  im- 
migrants, and  during  the  last  four  years  and  five  months  over 
3,700,000  immigrants  landed  at  this  port.  Many  of  them  became 
residents  of  New  York,  more  of  them  stayed  here  temporarily,  and 
still  others  passed  through. 

We  have  a  great  duty  thrust  upon  us  to  the  strangers  who  come 
to  us  and  to  their  children.  If  we  fail  to  perform  it,  we  shall  surely 
suffer  from  disease  and  the  demoralization  of  our  institutions. 

There  are  always  some  who  urge  upon  us  an  increase  in  every  ap- 
propriation planned,  but  generally  they  wish  this  increase  at  the  ex- 
pense of  some  other  equally  important  activity.  The  Board  of  Esti- 
mate and  Apportionment,  and  even  the  Legislature,  have  been  be- 
sieged on  behalf  of  every  one  of  these  eight  departmnts.  In  the  in- 
terest of  a  proper  balance  in  City  expenditures,  it  has  even  been  neces- 
sary for  me  to  veto  bills  granting  to  one  department  or  another  an 
excessive  advance.  The  Department  of  Education  represents  14*1/2 
per  cent,  of  the  total  Budget  increase,  and  this  has  been  due  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  new  schools,  costing  over  fifty  millions  of  dollars, 
the  pay  of  the  new  teachers,  the  automatic  increase  in  the  salaries  of 
old  teachers,  the  extension  of  playgrounds,  recreation  centres  and  the 
proper  provision  for  the  care  of  the  children. 

The  increase  in  the  appropriation  for  the  police  has  only  about 
kept  pace  with  the  population,  and  the  appropriation  has  been  less 
than  has  been  strongly  urged  upon  us  by  the  Commissioner. 

The  increase  for  the  Fire  Department  has  been  chiefly  due  to  the 
extension  of  the  paid  department  to  the  rural  sections  of  the  City,  for- 
merly served  by  volunteers. 

Our  people  are  no  longer  satisfied  with  the  old  methods  of  street 
cleaning,  and  the  number  of  miles  of  streets  cleaned  has  increased 
from  971  to  1,216. 

12 


The  Department  of  Charities  has  broadened  its  actii  ities,  and  the 
increase  in  the  population  brings  a  greater  burden  than  the  mere  fig- 
ures indicate. 

The  Department  of  Water  Supply,  Gas  and  Electricity  has  prac- 
tically relighted  the  City  in  the  last  five  years,  has  greatly  extended  the 
water  supply,  and  the  revenue  of  the  Departmenl  was  $2,000,000 
more  last  year  than  in  1903,  a  much  greater  increase  of  revenue  than 
the  increase  in  the  expenditure.  The  daily  supply  of  water  in  Man- 
hattan and  The  Bronx  was  40,000,000  gallons  more  than  in  L903,  and 
in  Brooklyn  45,000,000. 

The  Health  Department  has  not  only  cost  a  greal  deal  of  money, 
but  it  has  imposed  additional  expense  on  the  Board  of  Education  by 
greatly  increasing  the  school  attendance  through  improving  the  health 
of  the  children  and  keeping  them  alive.  The  grow  th  of  population 
inevitably  increases  the  expenses  of  the  Health  Departmenl  in  increas- 
ing ratio.  But  no  one  can  object  when  money  so  spent  produces  the 
remarkable  decrease  in  the  death  rate,  more  fully  explained  in  the  de- 
scription of  the  activities  of  the  department. 

The  acquisition  of  new  parks  brings  with  it  an  increase  in  the  ex- 
penses of  the  Park  Department,  which  is  now  caring  for  277  addi- 
tional acres  of  parks,  and  9,860  additional  feet  of  parkway.  'The  em- 
ployees are  now  paid  out  of  the  Budget  allowances  inste  ad  of  from 
corporate  stock,  as  was  previously  done  on  the  theory  that  their  work 
was  a  permanent  betterment;  a  theory  which  is  manifestly  absurd. 

The  increase  for  the  appropriation  of  the  City  Record  has  been 
partly  to  make  up  the  deficiency  which  existed  in  1904.  For  hos- 
pitals and  correction  the  increase  is  due  to  the  increase  of  population. 
The  volume  of  litigation  has  required  a  large  increase  in  the  appropria- 
tion for  the  Law  Department.  The  new  bridges  have  made  necessan 
a  largely  increased  expenditure  by  the  Departmenl  of  Bridges.  In 
regard  to  appropriations  for  the  Tenement  House  Department,  we 


13 


have  been  urged  on  the  one  hand  to  increase  the  appropriations  be- 
cause the  force  was  inadequate,  and  on  the  other,  we  have  been  urged 
to  decrease  the  appropriations  on  the  ground  that  the  Department  was 
too  active.  The  increase  in  the  appropriation  has  been  substantial  and 
the  efficiency  of  the  Department  has  kept  pace  with  the  increase  in  the 
appropriation.  The  Department  of  Taxes  and  Assessments  has  only 
received  sufficient  appropriation  to  keep  pace  with  the  growth  of  popu- 
lation. The  Commissioners  of  Accounts  have  needed  more  money  for 
the  extensive  investigations  that  have  been  instituted.  The  Board  of 
Elections  has  had  imposed  upon  it  new  duties  by  the  election  law,  and 
the  double  primary  of  last  year  imposed  a  heavy  expense.  The  Budget 
for  the  mayoralty  has  been  increased  by  the  transfer  of  the  salaries  of 
some  thirty  police  in  the  Bureau  of  Licenses  to  the  payroll  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive Department.  The  Civil  Service  Commissioners  have  had  an 
extraordinary  number  of  examinations,  due  to  the  creation  of  the 
Board  of  Water  Supply,  besides  the  natural  increase  of  10  per  cent, 
a  year  in  the  number  of  applications  for  examination.  The  work  of 
the  Board  of  Assessors  lias  been  increased  by  the  opening  of  new 
streets  and  other  local  improvements.  The  office  of  the  Commissioner 
of  Licenses  was  organized  in  1904,  hence  the  entire  expense  appears  as 
an  increased  appropriation. 

TAXES  AND  ASSESSMENTS. 

In  1904  the  appropriation  for  the  expenses  of  the  Department  of 
Taxes  and  Assessments  equalled  $69.77  per  million  dollars  of  the  as- 
sessed value  of  real  estate.  In  1908  the  appropriation  equals  $67.71 
per  million,  a  decrease  of  $2.06  since  1904.  The  assessed  value  of 
real  estate  has  increased  34  per  cent.,  the  number  of  employees  in  the 
Department  has  increased  39  per  cent.,  and  the  number  of  assessment 
districts  has  increased  46  per  cent.,  while  the  appropriation  has  in- 
creased only  30  per  cent. 

14 


The  law  requiring  the  separate  statement  of  the  value  of  land  in 
the  assessment  of  real  estate  was  drafted  by  the  present  President  of 
the  Tax  Department,  and  in  the  first  year  of  my  administration  the 
value  of  land  was  for  the  first  time  stated  separately  on  the  record  of 
the  assessed  valuation.  Through  this  public  exhibit  ion  of  the  details 
of  the  assessment  the  taxpayers  have  become  better  acquainted  with 
the  system  long  in  use  of  assessing  real  estate  by  the  use  of  unit  values 
for  land  and  square  foot  factors  for  buildings.  Deputy  Tax  Com- 
missioners are  more  accurate  in  their  work  because  they  know  that  it 
can  be  analyzed  and  carelessness  will  be  apparent,  and  unfair  assess- 
ments are  more  easily  discovered  and  corrected.  When  taxpayers 
appreciate  that  the  assessment  of  real  estate  is  methodical  and  scien- 
tific are  more  readily  satisfied  with  the  judgment  of  the  Department. 

The  improvements  in  the  Department  during  the  last  few  years 
would  have  been  absolutely  impossible  w  ithout  an  increase  in  the  force. 
In  1904  each  deputy  in  Brooklyn,  on  the  average,  had  to  assess  over 
16,400  separate  parcels  of  real  estate,  and  each  deputy  in  Queens  had 
to  assess  over  sixteen  square  miles  of  territory;  in  the  other  Boroughs 
the  districts  were  also  too  large.  It  was  physically  impossible  to  do 
the  work  as  it  should  be  done.  Now  there  are  nineteen  assessment 
districts  in  Brooklyn,  instead  of  twelve,  and  fourteen  in  Queens,  in- 
stead of  eight. 

In  1907  the  Tax  Department  secured  an  amendment  to  the 
Charter  by  which  the  duty  of  apportioning  the  assessment  of  divided 
parcels  of  real  estate  was  transferred  Prom  the  Finance  Department 
to  the  Tax  Department,  and  apportionment  at  anv  period  of  the  year 
was  made  lawful.  Under  the  old  law  no  apportionment  was  possible 
until  taxes  were  due  and  persons  were  compelled  to  wait  for  their 
bills,  sometimes  for  months,  and  obliged  to  pay  penalties  and  int<  n  st 
Under  the  new  law  taxpayers  this  year  were  able  to  obtain  bills  as 
soon  as  the  tax  was  payable  on  9,712  parcels  issesscd  for  over  ninety- 
four  millions  of  dollars. 

15 


A  card  inde  x  of  all  exempt  real  estate,  consisting  of  over  ten 
thousand  parcels,  has  been  prepared,  and  tins  for  the  first  time  pre- 
sents all  City  property  classified  according  to  its  use. 

In  the  assessment  of  personal  property  persistent  efforts  have 
been  made  to  eliminate  from  the  assessment  rolls  the  names  of  per- 
sons and  corporations  not  properly  liable  to  personal  assessments  by 
the  inspection  of  court  and  bankruptcy  proceedings,  by  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  attorney  for  the  collection  of  arrears  of  personal  taxes,  and 
many  millions  of  dollars  of  unproductive  assessments  have  been 
stricken  from  the  rolls.  At  the  same  time  the  greatest  care  is  exer- 
cised to  assess  all  persons  who  may  he  liable,  and  to  this  end  the  rec- 
ords of  the  Surrogates'  Courts  in  numerous  counties  of  New  York 
and  New  Jersey  are  annually  examined,  and  all  other  sources  of  in- 
formation are  fully  utilized. 

The  forms  on  which  corporations  apply  for  the  reduction  of  per- 
sonal assessments  have  been  revised  so  as  to  present  with  the  utmost 
clearness  the  details  of  assets  and  deductions.  The  methods  of  as- 
sessing personal  property  of  corporations  have  been  changed,  with  the 
result  that  the  tentative  assessment  lias  been  decreased  from  the  ab- 
surh  figure  of  one  billion,  four  hundred  million  dollars  to  about  ten 
per  cent,  of  this  amount,  and  the  final  assessment  has  been  increased. 
By  fair  and  careful  methods  certiorari  proceedings  Tor  the  correction 
of  personal  assessments  have  steadily  decreased  until  for  last  year 
only  five  such  proceedings  have  been  instituted. 

In  the  last  two  years  seven  different  bills,  prepared  by  the  Tax 
Department,  amending  the  Charter  or  the  Tax  Law.  have  been 
enacted.  These  measures  have  improved  and  simplified  procedure, 
saved  trouble  and  annoyance  to  taxpayers,  saved  expense  to  the  City, 
and  in  one  case,  that  of  the  repeal  of  the  undesigned  exemption  of  the 
shares  of  banks  held  by  trust  companies,  has  saved  the  City  many 
thousands  of  dollars  a  year. 

16 


The  Tax  Commissioners  have  been  as  vigilant  to  protect  indi- 
vidual citizens  as  to  conserve  the  rights  of  the  City.  The  duties  of 
Tax  Commissioners  are  judicial  and  this  fact  has  been  consistently 
impressed  upon  the  public.  Citizens  do  not  regard  Tax  Commis- 
sioners as  prosecutors  but  as  impartial  judges. 

The  reports  of  the  Department  are  regarded  as  works  of  such 
value  to  economists  and  administrators  that  they  are  in  demand  in  all 
parts  of  this  country  and  in  Europe.  The  methods  of  assessing  real 
estate,  and  of  presenting  the  results  have  been  so  clearly  set  forth  that 
the  City  of  New  York  has  taken  its  proper  place  as  an  example  for 
the  whole  country  to  imitate. 


HALF  A  MILLION  DOLLARS  SAVED  BY  ABOLISHING 

REBATES. 

Upon  the  suggestion  of  the  Department  of  Finance  and  the  Tax 
Department  the  Charter  was  amended  in  1908  so  as  to  do  away  with 
rebates  for  the  prompt  payment  of  taxes.  Those  who  obtained  the  ad- 
vantage of  rebates  were  chiefly  the  largest  taxpayers  and  the  expense 
fell  on  all  taxpayers. 

Owing  to  the  change  in  the  law  the  amount  collected  in  October 
and  November,  1908,  exceeded  the  sum  collected  for  the  tax  of  1907 
from  October  to  April  1,  1908. 

The  collections  during  October  and  November,  1908.  amounted 
to  $83,180,968.67,  as  against  the  collections  during  October  and  No- 
vember, 1907,  of  $66,205,131.49. 

The  rebate  allowed  on  the  October  payments  of  the  tax  of  1907 
and  1900  was: 

Tax  of  1907   $489,840.1.5 

Tax  of  1906  526,353.39 


17 


Owing  to  the  abolition  of  the  rebate  the  volume  of  work  in  1908 
decreased  materially  from  prior  years.  The  payments  came  in  gradu- 
ally, increasing  in  amount  daily,  until  they  readied  the  maximum  at 
the  end  of  ( )etober. 

The  temporary  clerks  assigned  to  the  Receiver's  Bureau  became 
proficient  in  their  duties  before  the  work  gained  in  volume,  as  the  Bu- 
reau was  enabled  to  assign  the  best  of  them  to  the  most  important 
work,  thereby  avoiding  the  errors,  caused  in  prior  years,  by  being  com- 
pelled to  assign,  on  the  day  of  their  appointment,  inexperienced  clerks 
in  the  preparation  of  tax  bills  and  the  entering  of  payments  on  the 
cash  books  at  a  time  when  the  volume  of  work  was  at  its  maximum. 

This  simple  amendment  has  saved  nearly  half  a  million  dollars 
and  rendered  possible  the  prevention  of  irritating  and  costly  clerical 
errors.  The  results  are  most  gratifying  and  reflect  great  credit  on 
those  who  conceived  it  and  secured  its  enactment. 

WORK  OF  THE  ADVISORY  COMMISSION  ON  TAXA- 
TION AND  FINANCE. 
In  accordance  with  the  policy  announced  in  my  message  to  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  on  January  2,  1905,  I  appointed  in  February  of 
that  year  a  Commission  to  consider  certain  defects  in  the  financial 
methods  of  the  City  and  to  recommend  remedies.  This  Commission 
has  recently  made  its  final  report  to  the  effect  that  it  has  considered  all 
the  subjects  submitted  to  it,  and  has  recommended  bills  which  have 
been  enacted. 

My  message  to  the  Board  of  Aldermen  on  January  0,  1908,  de- 
scribed at  some  length  the  subjects  considered  by  the  Commission  up 
to  that  time,  and  their  relation  to  the  financial  system  of  the  City.  A 
brief  summary  of  the  Commission's  work  is  here  presented: 

The  deficiency  due  to  uncollectible  taxes  in  excess  of  all  pro- 
visions theretofore  made  was  provided  for  by  the  authorization  of  an 

18 


issue  of  corporate  stock.  Annual  deficiencies  thereafter  arising  were 
provided  for  by  requiring  the  Hoard  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment 
to  insert  in  the  Budget  annually  a 1 1  amount  sufficienl  to  cover  such 
deficiency. 

The  Constitutional  limit  of  indebtedness  svas  considered  by  the 
Commission  and  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  suggested.  The 
amendment  adopted  by  the  Legislature  of  1908  was  based  upon  the 
report  of  the  Commission. 

In  December,  1907,  a  report  was  presented  by  the  Commission  on 
the  collection  of  arrears  of  real  estate  taxes  and  assessments.  This  re- 
port reviewed  the  existing  method  of  enforcing  the  payment  of  ar- 
rears of  real  estate  taxes,  assessments  and  water  rents,  and  found  that 
these  methods  were  wholly  inadequate  to  enforce  the  rights  of  the 
City.  Accordingly  the  Commission  reported  a  bill  to  amend  the 
Greater  New  York  Charter  relative  to  sales  of  lands  for  taxes,  assess- 
ments and  water  rents,  which  was  enacted  by  the  Legislature  of  L908, 
and  went  into  effect  on  October  1,  1908. 

By  the  provisions  of  this  Act  the  old  method  of  enforcing  such 
charges  by  the  sale  of  a  lease  was  abolished  and  in  its  place  is  sub- 
stituted a  method  requiring  the  sale  of  the  lien  of  the  City  for  the 
arrears  of  taxes,  assessments  and  water  rents,  with  interest,  penalties 
and  charges  to  the  person  who  bids  the  lowest  rate  of  interest  for 
which  he  will  advance  the  amount  to  the  City.  The  lien  to  the  C  ity 
is  to  be  transferred  to  the  purchaser  by  an  instrument  to  he  known  as  a 
"  transfer  of  tax  lien,"  and  which  by  the  terms  of  the  Act  is  assimilated 
as  closely  as  possible  to  a  mortgage  on  real  estate.  The  delinquent 
taxpayer  is  allowed  three  years  in  which  to  pay  off  and  discharge  this 
transfer  of  tax  lien,  and  in  the  event  of  his  default  the  tax  lien  max  he 
foreclosed  in  a  Court  of  Record,  by  a  procedure  similar  to  the  fore- 
closure of  a  mortgage.  The  substance  of  this  change  is  the  substitu- 
tion of  a  judicial  foreclosure  whereby  the  rights  of  all  parties  in  in- 


19 


terest  are  protected  for  the  administrative  act  of  the  Collector  of  As- 
sessments and  Arrears  in  an  ecc  parte  proceeding. 

The  report  of  the  Commission  advising  against  a  change  in  the 
time  for  the  collection  of  taxes;  the  report  on  the  constitutional  limit 
of  indebtedness,  on  the  taxation  of  personal  property,  on  City  ac- 
counts, on  the  collection  of  taxes  and  on  the  deficiencies  arising  from 
uncollectible  taxes,  constitute  a  valuable  study  of  the  financial  affairs 
of  the  City.  The  legislation  enacted  as  a  result  of  the  work  of  the 
Commission  is  of  great  worth  and  far-reaching  importance.  The 
thanks  of  the  City  are  due  to  these  men  who  have  given  time  and 
thought  to  the  City's  service  without  reward. 

WATER  SUPPLY. 
High  Pressure  Fire  Service. 
The  many  large  fires  in  November,  1903,  followed  by  the  disas- 
trous conflagrations  in  Baltimore  and  Rochester,  brought  The  City  of 
New  York  face  to  face  with  a  situation  which  had  to  be  met  without 
delay. 

In  spite  of  the  efficiency  of  our  Fire  Department,  and  the  ex- 
cellence of  the  system  under  which  it  was  being  operated,  our  own 
large  fires  and  those  in  other  cities,  showed  plainly  that  in  our  con- 
gested districts,  a  fire  unchecked  for  any  length  of  time  would  result 
in  a  conflagration  that  would  be  nothing  short  of  a  national  calamity. 

After  going  fully  into  the  subject  we  decided  upon  the  installa- 
tion of  the  high  pressure,  or  as  it  is  more  popularly  known  the  Salt 
Water  Fire  Service.  I  called  for  public  hearings  on  the  subject  and 
in  the  end  plans  were  prepared  and  have  been  carried  out  in  Coney 
Island,  Brooklyn  and  Manhattan. 

The  utmost  care  was  exercised  in  the  preparation  of  the  plans 
and  specifications  for  this  work,  while  the  inspection  at  the  foundries, 
at  the  shops  and  on  the  ground  was  thorough  and  efficient.    At  the 

20 


HIGH  PRESSURE  DISTRICT. 
Each  dot  represents  a  high  pressure  hydrant. 


same  time  the  work  was  so  actively  and  ably  conducted,  thai  the  whole 
distribution  system  was  completed  in  seventeen  working  months,  or  at 
the  rate  of  17,500  feet  per  month,  or  700  feet  per  day.  the  daily  rate 
sometimes  reaching  1,400  feet,  a  time  record  hitherto  unequaled  in 
this  kind  of  work.  It  is  all  the  more  remarkable  considering  the  ex- 
acting requirements  of  the  specifications  and  the  well-nigh  indescrib- 
able difficulties  under  which  the  work  was  conducted. 

As  a  result,  we  have  now  completely  installed,  thoroughly  tried 
and  tested,  both  during  construction  and  after  completion,  and  in 
actual  and  most  successful  operation  since  July  6,  a  high  pressure  fire 
system  provided  with  all  the  safeguards  that  modern  engineering 
science  can  devise,  and  the  skill  of  mechanics  carry  out,  to  secure 
regular  and  continuous  operation  and  meet  all  emergencies.  It  is 
capable  of  pumping  at  the  rate  of  fifty  million  gallons  of  water  in 
twenty-four  hours,  against  a  pressure  of  3.50  pounds  per  square  inch, 
and  this  enormous  force,  against  which  no  imaginable  conflagration 
could  stand,  can  be  concentrated  at  any  point  w  ithin  the  High  Pres- 
sure Fire  District,  and  made  available  within,  two  minutes  after  the 
alarm  of  fire  is  given.  It  is  consequently  ready  for  operation  long 
before  the  firemen  can  reach  their  posts  and  stretch  their  hose  lint  s: 
while  telephone  signal  boxes  are  so  located  that  a  fire  at  any  point 
within  the  protected  district  can  be  readily  observed  and  orders  di- 
rectly communicated  therefrom,  either  to  Fire  Headquarters  or  to  tin 
pumping  stations. 

No  other  city  in  the  world  possesses  a  system  of  fire  protection 
equalling  ours  in  magnitude  and  efficiency,  and  it  safeguards,  among 
others,  our  dry  goods  district,  with  its  enormous  values,  a  had  fire  in 
which  has  long  been  the  dread  of  merchants  and  fire  insurance  com- 
panies, since  such  a  conflagration  would  bankrupt  every  large  fire  in- 
surance company  doing  business  in  the  United  States. 


21 


The  system  in  Coney  Island  protects  an  area  of  about  146  acres, 
and  has  8,500  feet  of  mains.  The  cost  of  installation  was  $100,000. 
The  capacity  of  the  station  is  3,600  gallons  per  minute,  which  may  be 
increased  to  4,500  gallons  per  minute  against  a  pressure  of  150 
pounds.    Salt  or  fresh  water  may  be  used. 

The  pumping  station  is  fitted  with  three  triplex  pumps,  operated 
by  gas  engines.  This  system  has  been  in  successful  operation  for 
nearly  two  years  and  was  for  the  first  time  severely  tested  in  the  Coney 
Island  fire  of  last  July.  This  fire  had  already  destroyed  many  of  the 
frame  buildings,  with  which  Coney  Island  is  covered,  and  the  whole 
island  seemed  doomed,  when  the  high  pressure  fire  system  was  brought 
into  play  and  a  line  of  hydrants,  forming  a  compact  water  curtain  at 
150  pounds  pressure,  quickly  arrested  its  progress. 

The  Brooklyn  system  protects  the  dry  goods  and  high  office 
building  district,  covering  an  area  of  about  1,400  acres.  It  has 
123,000  feet  of  mains,  740  hydrants  and  two  pumping  stations.  One 
of  these  stations  has  a  capacity  of  15,000  gallons  per  minute,  consist- 
ing of  three  centrifugal  pumps  with  a  capacity  of  5,000  gallons  per 
minute  each,  against  a  pressure  of  300  pounds.  The  other  station  has 
three  similar  pumps,  so  that  its  capacity  is  9,000  gallons  per  minute, 
and  the  total  capacity  of  the  system  is  therefore  24,000  gallons  per 
minute,  against  a  pressure  of  300  pounds. 

At  the  main  station  either  fresh  or  salt  water  can  be  used.  The 
cost  of  the  system  was  $1,400,000,  and  it  is  now  complete.  The 
pumps  are  electrically  driven. 

The  Manhattan  system  comprises  an  area  of  about  1,456  acres, 
extending  from  Chambers  street  to  Twenty-third  street,  and  from  the 
North  River  to  Broadway,  Fourth  avenue  and  the  Bowery.  It  has 
297,000  feet,  or  fifty-six  miles  of  mains,  with  1,274  hydrants,  2,191 
valves  and  214  telephone  fire  alarms.  It  has  two  pumping  stations, 
one  at  Gansevoort  and  West  streets,  and  the  other  at  Oliver  and  South 

22 


streets,  so  located  therefore,  that  they  can  never  he  iii  thecentre  of  a  con- 
flagration, but  must  be  at  either  the  beginning  or  the  cud  of  one  Pri  >- 
vision  has  been  made  in  both  stations  for  the  use  of  cither  Croton  w  ater 
or  river  water,  in  the  latter  ease  one  station  drawing  from  the  North 
River  and  the  other  from  the  East  River.  Both  stations  are  absolutely 
fireproof,  and  provided  with  exterior  water  curtains  which  not  only 
afford  additional  protection,  but  serve  to  give  the  men  operating  the 
pumps  a  sense  of  security  and  comfort  while  doing  their  work,  in  case 
of  a  large  fire  in  the  adjoining  buildings. 

Each  station  is  equipped  with  five  pumps,  electrically  driven. 
Under  actual  test,  each  has  pumped  3,600  gallons  per  minute  against 
a  pressure  of  350  pounds,  so  that  the  total  capacity  of  the  two  stations, 
under  these  conditions,  is  36,000  gallons  per  minute,  or  in  round 
figures,  52,000,000  gallons  in  twenty-four  hours,  while  at  lower  pres- 
sures, which  will  be  those  more  generally  used,  the  capacity  may  be  in- 
creased as  much  as  30  per  cent. 

The  unqualified  success  of  the  Manhattan  High  Pressure  Fire 
Service  System,  both  in  design,  construction  and  operat  ion,  is  now  well 
established  and  recognized,  not  only  by  our  Fire  Department,  but  by 
the  experts  sent  from  other  cities. 

Notwithstanding  its  magnitude  and  difficulties,  this  work  has 
been  done  with  record  speed  and  at  a  cost  well  within  the  estimates  and 
appropriations  granted  for  that  purpose,  while  the  total  expense  s  of 
inspection,  supervision,  engineering,  etc..  have  amounted  to  less  than 
5  per  cent,  of  the  cost  of  the  work. 

Plans  have  been  prepared  and  the  requisite  appropriations  ob- 
tained for  extending  the  high  pressure  fire  service  in  Coney  Island, 
and  also  in  the  Borough  of  Manhattan,  in  the  congeste  d  district  from 
Houston  to  Chambers  streets,  and  from  the  Bowery  and  Park  How 
to  the  East  River,  and  the  work  will  be  actively  prosecuted. 


23 


The  almost  immediate  effect  on  insurance  rates  is  one  of  the  most 
gratifying  results  of  the  installation  of  the  high  pressure  service.  On 
December  9,  last,  the  New  York  Fire  Insurance  Exchange  ordered  a 
general  reduction  of  rates  in  the  Manhattan  high  pressure  zone. 
This  reduction,  I  am  reliably  informed,  will  mean  an  immediate  sav- 
ing in  premiums  of  $500,000  a  year,  and  is  to  be  followed  shortly  by 
another  reduction. 

Of  the  great  reduction  in  Brooklyn,  due  to  improved  water  sup- 
ply, about  $250,000  is  directly  due  to  the  installation  of  the  high  pres- 
sure system,  so  that  this  great  improvement  has  already  earned  at 
least  three-quarters  of  a  million  dollars  return,  annually,  to  the  tax- 
payers. The  system  is,  therefore,  not  only  to  be  regarded  as  a  primal 
protection  to  life  and  property,  but  also  one  of  the  most  productive 
investments  of  the  City  . 

Croton  Water  Supply,  Etc. 

Apart  from  the  Catskill  water  system,  which  is  dealt  with  in 
another  place,  I  wish  to  call  the  attention  of  your  Honorable  Board 
to  what  has  been  done  in  the  development  of  the  water  resources  at 
hand  during  the  past  five  years. 

The  supply  of  water  furnished  from  municipal  works,  which,  in 
1903  averaged  397,000,000  gallons  daily,  reached  over  479,000,000 
gallons  daily  in  1908,  an  increase  of  82,000,000  gallons  daily,  of  which 
43,000,000  gallons  are  used  in  Manhattan  and  The  Bronx,  and  38,- 
000,000  gallons  in  the  Borough  of  Brooklyn.  By  the  sale  of  this  water, 
the  City's  revenues  have  been  increased  $2,000,000  annually. 

In  the  Croton  system,  the  storage  capacity  of  the  reservoirs,  which 
in  1903  amounted  to  46,000,000,000  gallons,  has  been  increased  to  88,- 
000,000,000  gallons,  and,  with  the  completion  of  the  Croton  Falls 
Reservoir,  16,000,000,000  gallons  additional  will  be  secured. 

In  Brooklyn  the  development  of  the  available  watershed  has  been 
most  successfully  carried  out,  resulting  in  an  addition  to  the  supply 

24 


of  about  75,000,000  gallons  daily.  In  this  connection,  the  ex- 
traordinary yield  of  the  infiltration  galleries  at  Wantagh  and  Massa- 
pequa,  far  exceeding  the  estimates,  deserves  particular  notice.  The 
increase  available  in  the  Borough  of  Brooklyn,  since  January  1,  11)04. 
is  equivalent  to  about  70  per  cent,  of  the  total  amount  supplied  din  - 
ing 1903,  while  in  regard  to  the  quality  of  the  water  the  improvement 
is  still  more  marked. 

In  the  Borough  of  Queens,  improvements  in  the  six  Municipal 
pumping  stations,  including  the  reconstruction  of  Station  No.  2,  which 
was  destroyed  in  1902,  and  the  utilization  of  the  waters  of  Oakland 
Lake,  by  filtration,  soon  to  be  completed,  have  materially  increased  the 
supply  from  municipal  sources.  The  greater  part  of  the  water  supply 
in  this  Borough,  however,  is  furnished  by  private  companies,  which 
sell  directly  to  consumers  and  also  to  the  City.  The  amount  pur- 
chased by  the  City  has  increased  from  about  4,000,000  gallons  daily, 
in  1903,  to  about  6,500,000  gallons  daily  in  1908. 

In  that  Borough  the  areas  available  for  further  development  of 
the  supply,  at  a  reasonable  cost,  are  held  by  a  private  company.  I 
deem  the  acquisition  of  this  company  advantageous,  if  the  purchase 
can  be  made  at  a  reasonable  price.  In  this  way  the  development  of 
existing  sources,  and  the  extension  of  the  distribution  system  can  be 
carried  out  with  the  sole  view  of  improving  the  public  service.  By 
this  means  we  will  also  be  enabled  to  discontinue  the  operation  of  some 
of  the  smaller  Municipal  plants  in  Queens,  particularly  those  at  Long 
Island  City  and  Whitestone  which,  owing  to  their  small  yield,  are  run 
at  a  heavy  expense. 

In  the  Borough  of  Richmond  the  City  ow  ns  only  one  Municipal 
plant,  at  Tottenville.  It  has  acquired  two  private  water  companies, 
but  is  not  yet  operating  them,  owing  to  questions  of  title  transfer. 


25 


In  spite  of  all  efforts  to  add  to  our  water  supply,  it  is  evident  that 
a  shortage  may  be  experienced  before  water  from  the  Catskills  is  avail- 
able, so  that  it  is  essential  to  husband  our  resources  and  check  pre- 
ventable w  aste.  This  can  best  be  effected  by  metering'  the  system. 
This  question  has  received  my  careful  attention,  and  in  compliance 
with  legislative  enactment,  a  report  has  been  prepared  and  presented 
to  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  for  the  installation  of 
meters  in  typical  districts,  in  order  to  acquire  the  necessary  data  to 
properly  solve  this  important  question  and,  at  the  same  time,  prevent 
the  illegal  use  of  water. 

While  an  adequate  supply  is  obviously  all  important,  the  dis- 
tribution system  affects  the  consumer  directly,  as  he  is  dependent  on 
its  efficiency.  Mains  of  insufficient  capacity  mean  unsatisfactory  and 
costly  domestic  service,  and  increased  fire  insurance  rates,  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  properly  designed  distribution  system  means  proper 
protection  and  quick  development  of  property,  with  resultant  im- 
provement in  public  health  and  increase  in  values. 

In  no  other  respect  has  the  improvement  been  so  marked  during 
the  last  five  years.  There  have  been  laid,  during  that  period  (ex- 
clusive of  the  high  pressure  fire  system),  not  less  than  564  miles  of 
mains  in  the  five  Boroughs,  to  which  have  been  connected  12,000  hy- 
drants. As  an  instance  of  the  value  of  these  mains,  I  refer  briefly  to 
their  effect  in  the  Borough  of  Brooklyn.  In  accordance  with  plans, 
prepared  four  years  ago,  211  miles  of  new  mains  have  been  laid,  and 
47  miles  of  tubercolated  pipe  cleaned,  in  that  Borough.  This  repre- 
sents 30  per  cent,  of  the  total  mileage  of  mains  comprised  within  that 
system  on  January  1,  1904,  and  nearly  three  times  the  amount  laid 
during  the  previous  five  years.  Aside  from  the  improvement  in  do- 
mestic service  and  the  development  of  unsettled  districts,  the  reduction 
in  insurance  rates  already  allowed,  in  the  more  important  business  sec- 
tions of  the  City,  has  been  $600,000  annually.    This  sum,  capitalized 


26 


at  5  per  cent.,  represents  many  times  the  cost  of  the  water  mains  laid 
in  the  districts  described. 

The  pumping  stations  in  all  five  Boroughs  have  been  materially 
improved  and  extended.  The  older  ones  have  been  remodeled,  old 
boilers  have  been  replaced,  new  engines  have  been  installed,  while  at 
the  Jerome  Avenue  Station,  two  new  pumping  units  with  a  capacity 
of  25,000,000  gallons  a  day,  are  ready  for  installation  by  the  Board 
of  Water  Supply,  so  that  the  City  may,  if  required,  dispense  w  ith  tlx 
Kensico  Reservoir,  pending  the  construction  of  the  new  reservoir  there. 
These  pumps  can  be  used  either  for  the  Williamsbridge  Reservoir,  or 
for  the  high  service  in  The  Bronx. 

Provision  has  also  been  made  in  Brooklyn  to  increase  the  conduit 
capacity,  the  lack  of  which  lias,  at  times,  prevented  the  delivery  of  an 
adequate  supply  to  Brooklyn,  even  when  available  in  the  watershed, 
by  laying  a  six-foot  steel  pipe  from  the  Borough  line  to  Massapequa, 
a  distance  of  twenty-three  miles.  About  nine  miles  of  this  pipe  was 
placed  under  contract  in  the  early  part  of  11)08,  and  has  been  com- 
pleted and  put  into  use.  The  final  contract  for  this  line  has  been  let 
and  when  completed,  it  will  have  a  capacity  of  50,000,000  gallons 
daily,  or  about  40  per  cent,  of  the  total  capacity  of  all  the  other  con- 
duits. 

The  protection  of  the  water  supply  from  pollution  has  received 
careful  attention.  A  most  thorough  and  systematic  inspection  of  the 
watersheds,  especially  that  of  the  Croton,  has  been  maintained  during 
the  past  five  years,  and  constant  laboratory  analyses  and  examinations 
have  been  made. 

The  most  threatening  danger  of  contamination  has  been  for  sev- 
eral years  the  discharge  of  the  sewage  from  Mouni  Kisco,  into  one  of 
the  tributaries  of  the  Croton.  After  several  years  of  negotiations,  an 
agreement  has  been  made  with  the  Village  of  Mount  Risen  for  the  in- 
stallation of  sewers,  already  under  const  ruction,  and  a  disposal  plant 


27 


for  the  treatment  of  the  sewage,  which  will  effectually  eliminate  all 
danger  from  that  source.  The  City  has,  furthermore,  secured  the  in- 
stallation at  the  Montefiore  Home  for  Consumptives,  of  a  disposal 
plant  for  the  proper  treatment  of  the  sewage  which,  as  previously  dis- 
charged into  a  tributary  stream  of  the  Croton,  was  a  dangerous  source 
of  pollution. 

It  must  be  added,  however,  that  while  these  temporary  expedients 
will  be  continued  to  the  fullest  extent  of  our  resources,  the  danger 
from  pollution  increases  yearly  with  the  increase  of  population  in  the 
watershed,  and  can  only  be  guarded  against  by  the  filtration  of  the 
Croton  water. 

In  my  last  annual  message  I  called  the  attention  of  your  Hon- 
orable Board  to  the  fact  that  the  engineers  of  the  Department,  as- 
sisted by  the  most  eminent  experts  in  the  United  States,  had  made  an 
exhaustive  study  of  this  question.  Their  conclusion  was  that  the  best 
place  available  was  the  east  basin  of  the  Jerome  Park  Reservoir,  and 
accordingly  all  other  construction  work  there  was  stopped.  This 
has  led  to  some  criticism  on  the  part  of  persons  ignorant  of  the  City's 
plans  for  this  property.  There  has  been  some  delay,  caused  by  the 
preparation  of  plans  for  the  work,  and  by  the  City's  financial  condi- 
tion. The  situation  at  present  is  that  the  Commissioner  of  Water 
Supply  has  made  application  for  an  appropriation  of  $4,000,000  for 
the  masonry  part  of  the  filtration  plant,  including  the  basin  for  the 
treated  water,  that  the  Board  of  Estimate,  following  the  usual  cus- 
tom, has  referred  the  matter  to  the  Department  of  Finance,  and  that 
that  Department  has  not  yet  reported  on  it.  The  Water  Department 
is  prepared  to  start  work  as  soon  as  the  money  is  available. 

Aqueduct  Commission. 
I  have  no  reason  to  change  my  recommendation  of  last  year  that 
the  Aqueduct  Commission  be  abolished.    What  little  work  there  re- 


28 


mains  to  be  done  can  be  done  more  effectively  by  either  the  Depart- 
ment of  Water  Supply,  Gas  and  Electricity  or  the  Board  of  Water 
Supply.  In  the  hands  of  either  of  these  departments  a  greal  finan- 
cial saving  can  be  accomplished. 

Under  the  amended  Law  which  permits  the  Commission  to  exist 
until  its  work  is  completed,  it  is  apparent  that  the  members  contem- 
plate perpetual  life.  Although  the  new  Croton  Dam  was  completed 
in  1906,  and  the  Cross  River  Dam  w  as  finished  a  year  ago,  neither  has 
yet  been  turned  over  to  the  control  of  the  water  department,  which 
is  the  proper  superintendent  of  maintenance. 

Plans  for  a  new  storage  reservoir  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the 
Croton  Watershed,  at  a  cost  of  $3,500,000.  have  been  prepared  by  the 
Commission  without  so  much  as  consulting  the  Department  of  Water 
Supply,  which  is  responsible  for  the  supply,  as  to  the-  necessity  for  it. 
Other  expenditures  are  also  in  contemplation  by  the  Commission,  and 
it  is  impossible  to  escape  the  conviction  thai  these  works  are  planned 
for  the  purpose  of  keeping  the  Commission  in  existence. 

If  this  bi-partisan  Commission  has  the  power,  as  it  apparently 
has,  to  involve  the  City  in  unnecessary  expenditures  without  consult- 
ing the  local  authorities,  then  it  should  be  w  iped  out  without  delay. 
It  is  my  purpose  to  again  recommend  such  legislation  at  this  session  of 
the  Legislature. 

The  Board  of  Watek  Supply. 
Criticism  of  the  work  of  obtaining  an  additional  water  supply 
in  the  Catskill  Mountain  shed  should  not  be  that  it  is  extravagant  and 
unnecessary,  but  that  the  City  of  Xew  York  should  have  begun  the 
work  long  before  it  did.  We  should  be  actually  getting  water  now 
from  the  Catskills  or  some  equally  good  source.  Our  shortage  to-day 
would  be  far  more  serious  but  for  the  plentiful  rainfall  of  1907. 

29 


The  water  shortage  danger  is  an  ever  increasing  one,  not  only  be- 
cause of  the  demands  of  a  constantly  increasing  population,  but  be- 
cause of  the  indications  of  a  diminution  in  the  abnormally  abundant 
rainfall  of  recent  years.  On  account  of  this  situation  the  City  is  not 
only  hastening  the  construction  of  the  Catskill  Aqueduct  between 
Ashokan  Reservoir  and  the  Croton  watershed,  but  is  working  on  the 
temporary  development  of  a  supply  from  sources  east  of  the  Hudson 
River. 

As  early  as  1899  the  inadequacy  of  the  City's  water  supply  began 
to  give  concern.  On  several  occasions  the  City  was  only  saved  from 
a  serious  shortage  by  a  lucky  rainfall.  An  attempt  was  made  in  this 
emergency  to  commit  the  City  to  a  contract  with  the  Ramapo  Com- 
pany, but  so  much  opposition  developed  to  this  that  it  was  abandoned. 
Investigation  showed  that  the  Croton  supply  would  last,  if  properly 
husbanded,  but  that  there  was,  nevertheless,  urgent  need  of  seeking 
sources  of  additional  supply. 

In  December,  1902,  the  Burr-Hering-Freeman  Commission  was 
created  "  to  make  a  thorough,  complete,  exhaustive  examination  and 
investigation  of  the  City's  need  of  water."  Its  work  was  limited 
strictly  to  sources  lying  within  the  State  of  New  York.  This  Com- 
mission reported  in  November,  1903.  The  watersheds  studied  in  de- 
tail were  those  of  Fishkill  Creek,  Roeliff  Jansen  Kill  and  Wappinger 
Creek,  east  of  the  Hudson ;  Rondout,  Esopus,  Schoharie  and  Catskill 
Creeks,  in  the  Catskill  Mountains. 

New  York's  population  of  3,700,000  in  1903,  was  increasing  at 
the  rate  of  33  per  cent,  per  decade,  so  that  b}^  1930  a  population  of 
7,000,000  could  be  expected.  Manhattan  and  The  Bronx  were  draw- 
ing close  to  the  limit  of  the  Croton  Shed,  so  that  the  works  recom- 
mended for  an  additional  supply  from  the  north  must  have  a  ca- 
pacity of  from  500,000,000  to  750,000,000  gallons  a  day.    The  works 

30 


eye*  f> 


THE    CATSK1LL  AQUEDUCT. 
The  figures  in  the  arch  show  the  comparative  size  of  the  tube. 


THE  CATS  KILL  WATERSHED. 


Scale 

1  ,  ,       ?  f  10  T 

CATSKILL  AQUEDUCT. 

The  lower  water  level  shows  extent  to  which  it  would  he  filled  by  the  water  supplied  to  Rome, 
A.  D.,  97,  84  million  gallons  per  day;  600  million  gallons  per  day  would  fill  the  aqueduct 
to  the  upper  mark. 


recommended  for  immediate  development  were  Fishkil]  and  Esopus 
Creeks. 

When  I  came  into  office  January  1,  L904,  conditions  were  practi- 
cally as  the  Commission  had  found  them.  Previous  administrations 
had  collected  the  data  on  where  water  could  be  obtained  and  had 
proved  beyond  a  doubt  the  need  of  more  water.  There  remained  the 
all-important  problems  of  financing  the  undertaking,  of  providing 
the  administrative  body  to  carry  out  the  work,  and  of  securing  the 
necessary  legislation.  Your  Honorable  Board  is  familiar  with  how 
these  things  were  all  accomplished  after  many  difficulties  had  been 
overcome.  On  April  6,  1905,  I  publicly  pledged  myself  to  lift  the 
entire  enterprise  out  of  partisan  politics  by  allowing  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  the  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters  and  the  Manufacturers' 
Association  to  name  the  Commissioners  of  the  Board  of  Water  Sup- 
ply, and  further  pledging  myself  to  fill  any  vacancies  that  might  oc- 
cur in  the  same  way. 

I  have  never  violated  that  pledge,  and  sincerely  trust  that  the 
method  adopted  by  me  in  the  beginning  will  be  followed  by  my  suc- 
cessors in  office  until  the  work  of  the  Board  is  completed. 

The  work  of  organization  was  begun  immediately  on  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Board,  and  was  pushed  with  remarkable  speed.  The  plan 
of  work  finally  adopted  has  been  fully  described  to  your  Honorable 
Board  in  previous  messages  from  me. 

The  contract  for  the  main  or  Ashokan  Dam  was  awarded  An  mist 
31,  1907,  and  up  to  date  contracts  for  the  building  of  twenty-six  miles 
of  aqueduct  have  been  let,  involving  an  expenditure,  when  completed, 
of  $26,700,000,  and  varying  in  time  from  lour  years  to  seven  years. 
Since  its  organization  the  Board  has  expended  or  contracted  to  ex- 


31 


pend  for  property  acquired,  contracts  for  structural  work,  and  for  the 
force  employed,  about  $,50,300,000.  The  work  may  be  said,  therefore, 
to  be  well  under  way  and  the  expenditures  to  date  have  not  varied  ma- 
terially in  total  from  what  was  originally  estimated  and  approved  by 
the  Board  of  Estimate. 

For  a  period  of  about  two  years  investigations  have  been  in 
progress  in  Suffolk  County,  and  as  a  result  of  these  investigations  the 
Board  prepared  a  plan  and  map  for  an  additional  water  supply  for 
the  Borough  of  Brooklyn,  which  was  approved  by  the  Board  of  Esti- 
mate on  June  26,  1908,  submitted  to  the  State  Water  Supply  Com- 
mission July  29,  1908,  and  is  now  before  it.  The  Catskill  supply  and 
the  Suffolk  County  well  system,  will,  when  fully  developed,  furnish 
without  detriment  to  the  localities  in  which  they  are  situated,  1,000,- 
000,000  gallons  of  water  daily.  With  as  much  of  the  present  supply 
as  will  then  remain  safe  for  use,  the  City  of  New  York  will  have  a 
daily  supply  of  1,500,000,000  gallons. 

The  Esopus  watershed,  because  of  its  exposure  to  rain  bearing 
winds  and  its  wooded  slopes,  furnishes  a  supply  notable  for  its  softness, 
purity  and  quantity.  This  supply  and  that  to  be  diverted  from  the 
Schoharie  shed  by  a  ten-mile  tunnel  through  the  mountain  divide,  will 
be  collected  in  the  Ashokan  Reservoir.  This  reservoir  will  have  a 
maximum  depth  of  190  feet,  and  a  capacity  of  130,000,000,000  gallons. 
The  water  will  be  impounded  by  Olive  Bridge  Dam,  the  adjacent 
Beaver  Kill  Dikes,  a  chain  3.8  miles  long,  and  by  the  West  Hurley 
and  other  smaller  dikes,  aggregating  1.5  miles  in  length. 

The  type  of  construction  crossing  the  Hudson  River  is  yet  to  be 
determined.  Three  practical  methods  are  under  consideration  and 
test  shafts  are  now  being  driven  on  either  side  of  the  river  in  the 
vicinity  of  Cornwall.  From  the  east  side  of  the  Hudson  the  water  will 
be  carried  to  the  enlarged  Kensico  Reservoir,  which  will  hold  40,- 
000,000,000  gallons,  and  from  this  reservoir  to  the  distributing  reser- 


32 


voir  at  Hill  View,  just  outside  of  the  city  of  Xonkers,  where,  from  an 

elevation  of  295  feet,  the  distribution  to  consumers  will  be<nn. 

<"■> 

It  has  been  planned,  if  necessary,  to  carry  this  water  to  Brooklyn 
and  Richmond,  but  developments  of  Suffolk  County  water  may  make 
that  unnecessary. 

GROWTH  OF  THE  FIRE  DEPARTMENT. 

While  the  installation  of  the  high  pressure  system  has  been  the 
conspicuous  accomplishment  in  the  direction  of  fire  protection,  the 
natural  units  of  fire-fighting  have  not  been  neglected.  The  uniformed 
force  has  been  increased  in  the  last  five  years  from  2,9 74  officers  and 
men  to  4,210,  an  increase  of  forty  per  cent.  In  the  same  period 
twenty-four  new  engine  companies,  twenty-four  hook  and  ladder  com- 
panies and  seven  hose  companies  have  been  organized  and  seven  single 
companies  in  service  have  been  reorganized  and  added  to  the  list  of 
double  companies,  which  now  number  twenty-six.  The  hose  com- 
panies include  those  now  specially  drilled  to  handle  the  high  pressure 
service,  so  that  there  is  now  in  Greater  New  York  a  combined  force  of 
249  engines  and  hook  and  ladder  companies. 

Besides  the  one  flreboat  completed  in  1904,  three  new  boats — the 
James  Duane,  the  Thomas  Willett  and  the  Cornelius  W.  Lawrence- 
have  been  placed  in  service.  These  four  are  high  power  boats  of  the 
latest  type.  The  fleet  of  ten  boats  has  a  pumping  capacity  of  about 
78,000  gallons  a  minute,  or  equal  to  the  efficiency  of  130  land  engines 
of  normal  capacity — the  equivalent  of  the  entire  land  force  of  the 
Boroughs  of  Manhattan,  The  Bronx.  Brooklyn  and  Queens.  With 
these  new  floating  engines  and  the  high  pressure  service,  fire  protec- 
tion means  have  been  increased  .50  per  cent,  within  the  zone  of  greatest 
hazard.  Xo  harbor  in  the  world  lias  such  a  force  to  guard  its  shipping 
interests. 


33 


During  this  administration  nineteen  new  apparatus  houses  have 
been  built  and  sixty-four  old  houses  have  been  altered  and  repaired, 
with  sanitary  improvements  for  the  benefit  of  the  force.  Nine  new 
houses  are  in  course  of  construction  and  thirteen  others  are  being  re- 
built. A  new  and  well  equipped  repair  shop  offers  every  advantage 
for  the  quick  repair  of  hose  and  other  apparatus. 

Under  the  direction  of  the  leading  experts  of  this  country  plans 
have  been  prepared  for  a  new  fire  alarm  telegraph  system  in  the  Bor- 
ough of  Manhattan,  and  it  will  be  your  duty  to  pass  upon  the  request 
of  the  Fire  Commissioner  for  an  appropriation  to  install  this  system, 
which  will  dissipate  the  last  objection  of  the  Board  of  Fire  Under- 
writers to  a  general  reduction  of  insurance  rates.  In  the  meantime  a 
modern  telephone  system  connecting  all  the  apparatus  houses  with 
the  central  office  has  been  put  in  operation  and  serves  as  a  supple- 
mentary alarm  system.  By  an  arrangement  with  the  telephone  com- 
pany all  these  wires  pass  through  the  Plaza  Station,  where  the  City 
may  set  up  and  maintain  an  emergency  central  office  in  case  of  any 
breakdown  of  the  telegraph  or  telephone  systems. 

A  general  plan  of  placing  all  alarm  wires  underground  for  the 
protection  of  the  system  has  been  followed,  and  the  only  wires  remain- 
ing overhead  in  the  Borough  of  Manhattan  are  those  in  the  Washing- 
ton Heights  section  and  these,  in  the  near  future,  will  be  placed  under 
the  streets. 

Some  idea  of  the  activities  of  the  Department  may  be  gained 
from  these  statistics:  From  January  1,  1904,  to  October  1,  1908,  the 
Department  responded  to  43,316  alarms  in  the  Boroughs  of  Man- 
hattan, The  Bronx  and  Richmond,  and  to  20,143  in  the  Boroughs  of 
Brooklyn  and  Queens. 

Twelve  days  before  I  took  office  the  then  Fire  Commissioner 
created  a  bureau  of  violations  and  auxiliary  fire  appliances,  and  his 
successors  have  amplified  the  work  of  that  bureau,  as  has  been  demon- 

34 


e. 

3             "  Has* 

nlB  • 

11  ■    ,  , 

V. 


strated  by  the  protective  measures  enforced  on  all  theatres  arid  places 
of  public  meeting  and  by  the  use  of  stand-pipes,  special  fire  alarm  con- 
nections and  the  numerous  devices  approved  by  the  fire  underwriting 
interests.  Through  the  Fire  Marshals  the  Department  has  closely 
followed  fire  causes  and  has  secured  136  convictions  for  arson. 

The  work  of  the  Municipal  Commission  on  Explosives  and  the 
Bureau  of  Combustibles  has  increased  notably  because  of  the  great 
constructive  works  calling  for  the  use  of  dynamite  and  other  high  ex- 
plosives and  the  larger  use  of  the  inflammable  products  of  petroleum. 
In  the  Boroughs  of  Manhattan  and  The  Bronx  alone  there  are  23, 000 
places  selling  or  storing  inflammable  or  explosive  materials,  and  all 
are  subject  to  inspection  by  the  Department. 

The  paid  system  has  been  carried  intoRockaway  Beach,  Far  Rock- 
away,  Jamaica,  Richmond  Hill,  Flushing  and  College  Point  in  the 
Borough  of  Queens,  reducing  the  number  of  volunteer  companies  to 
forty-two.  Of  the  original  fifty-seven  volunteer  companies  in  Richmond, 
only  thirteen  remain,  the  paid  service  being  now  general  in  that  Bor- 
ough. Outside  of  Long  Island  City  the  Borough  of  Queens  is  pro- 
vided with  a  well-equipped  fire  alarm  system  which,  under  this  admin- 
istration, has  been  extended  into  Bayside,  Douglaston,  Queens  and 
Springfield,  with  a  central  station  at  Jamaica. 

Time  off  for  the  men  has  been  increased,  so  that  in  addition  to 
one  day  off  in  five  each  man  has  four  additional  leaves  of  twe  lve-  hours 
each  month  as  well  as  his  annual  vacation.  Considering  the  work  of 
the  uniformed  men.  their  time  off  is  well  earned. 

GAS  AND  ELECTRICITY. 
Since  January  1,  1904,  the  lighting  of  the  City  has  been  almost 
entirely  changed.    The  first  decided  improvement  was  made  in  L904, 
w  hen  some  16,000  of  the  old  gas  lamps  in  Manhattan  and  The  Bronx 
were  changed  to  mantle  lamps.    A  beginning  w  as  also  made  in  add- 


35 


ing  to  the  arc  lighting  along  the  main  streets.  This  was  somewhat 
difficult  on  account  of  the  high  prices  demanded,  but  early  in  1905 
prices  were  reduced  by  statute,  and  since  then  this  work  has  gone  on 
rapidly.  In  Manhattan  the  first  section  requiring  complete  electric 
lighting,  on  account  of  extreme  congestion,  was  the  lower  East  Side. 
This  was  accomplished  in  1905  and  1906.  Additional  lighting  was 
given  to  streets  under  elevated  railroads  and  to  the  open  spaces  of  the 
City  where  great  assemblages  frequently  occur.  The  lighting  at  all 
main  street  car  crossings  was  doubled  and  points  of  danger  given 
special  attention. 

In  the  northern  part  of  Manhattan  Island  and  in  The  Bronx,  the 
lighting  lines  were  extended  with  the  growth  of  the  population. 
Where  these  sections  were  at  all  congested  they  were  treated  as  in 
Manhattan.  In  1905  the  scheme  of  lighting  improvement  was  ex- 
tended  to  Brooklyn,  and  the  same  extensive  changes  made  as  in  Man- 
hattan. The  great  area  not  yet  settled  in  Brooklyn  makes  the  ex- 
tension of  lighting  somewhat  slow,  because  of  the  necessity  of  con- 
structing gas  and  electric  mains.  It  has  been  closely  followed  up, 
however,  and  now  even  the  remote  sections,  where  inhabited,  are  well 
lighted. 

In  1906  the  system  was  extended  to  Queens  and  work  on  similar 
lines  begun  in  Richmond.  Even  more  difficulty  was  met  with  in 
Queens  on  account  of  lack  of  gas  and  electric  mains,  so  that  many 
mantle  naphtha  lamps  were  used  in  place  of  them.  Sections  poorly 
lighted  by  sparse  arc  lights  were  relighted  with  mantle  gas  lamps,  the 
distribution  of  light  being  greatly  improved  by  this  method. 

In  the  last  year  or  two  the  new  high  efficiency  electric  incan- 
descent lamps  have  been  used  with  great  effect  in  this  Borough.  The 
greatly  increased  illuminating  power  of  these  lamps  makes  them  pe- 
culiarly suitable  for  lighting  along  country  roads,  park  avenues  and 
sparsely  inhabited  sections.    There  are  few  places  in  the  country 


36 


Bishop's  Crook  Post.  Boulevard  Gas  Post.  Lyre  Top  Post. 

TYPES    OF    POSTS    USED    IN    STREET  LIGHTING. 


where  they  have  so  rapidly  come  into  use  or  where  there  are  more  of 
them.    These  lamps  are  now  being  installed  in  Richmond. 

Table  Showing  Lamps  and  Candle  Power. 
January  1,  1904,  and  October  10,  1908. 

Number  Free 
of  Lamps 
Number  Street  Included 

of  Estimated  Sign      in  Other 

January  1,  1904.         Lamps.  C.  P.  Lamps.  Column. 

Electric   16,704  0,002,900  fc92  89 

Gas   41,694  967,864  1,404 

Naphtha   4,058  130,392   

Oil    100  1,200   


Total   62,556  7,102,3.56  1,896  89 


Number  Free 
of  Lamps 

Number  Street  Included 

of  Estimated  Sign      in  Other 

October  10,  1908.        Lamps.  C.  P.  Lamps.  Column. 

Electric                       20,414  8,401,030    185 

Gas                             43,892  2,627,232   

Naphtha                         4,047  242,244   

Oil    

Total                    68,353  11,270,506    185 

Total  increase. ..  .          5,797  4,168,000   

Total  per  cent,  in- 
crease                           9%  58% 


37 


The  candle  power  given  for  the  lamps  of  all  kinds  is  as  close  an 
approximation  of  the  actual  as  can  be  obtained:  for  instance,  the 
i:  minal  2,000  C.  P.  electric  arc  lamp  is  figured  at  -180  C.  P.  maximum. 

DEPARTM  ENT  OF  HEALTH. 

Reduction  of  Death  Rate. 

I  i  specially  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  your  Honorable  Board 
to  the  \\<>rk  of  the  Health  Department  during  the  past  five  years. 
There  is  no  other  department  of  the  city  government,  the  operations  of 
which  are  of  such  vital  concern  to  our  people.  Since  1903  the  work 
of  this  Department  has  increased  tremendously,  but  the  results 
achieved  more  than  justify  the  expenditures  of  money  that  have  been 
made.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  money  expended  by  the  City  in  the 
maintenance  of  the  Health  Department  has  been  a  comparatively 
small  factor  in  the  results  accomplished.  It  is  to  the  unselfishness 
and  devotion  of  the  men  I  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  have  in  com- 
mand in  the  Department  of  Health  that  the  City  owes  the  remarkable 
cr(  ase  in  the  death  rate  since  1903.  To  Dr.  Darlington,  Dr.  Ben- 
sel  and  Dr.  Biggs,  New  York  owes  a  debt  which  it  can  never  pay. 

In  1903  there  were  997  employees  in  the  Department  of  Health. 
There  arc  now  2.3.5 1 .  This  increase  has  been  due  to  my  determination 
to  develop  to  the  utmost,  every  possible  line  of  work  leading  to  the 
preservation  of  life  and  health  in  this  city.  For  the  first  eleven  months 
of  the  present  year  the  death  rate  was  the  smallest  ever  known  in  our 
history.  For  the  first  eleven  months  of  1904  there  were  71,725  deaths, 
a  death  rate  of  20.06  per  thousand.  During  the  same  period  of  time 
this  year  there  were  67,311  deaths,  a  death  rate  of  16.60  per  thousand, 
a  decrease  of  3.46  points.  This  tremendous  saving  of  life  will  be  bet- 
ter understood  when  I  state  that  had  the  death  rate  of  1904  prevailed 
during  the  present  year  there  would  have  been  15,302  more  deaths  dur- 
ing the  last  eleven  months  than  occurred.    It  is  only  fair  to  the  Tene- 


38 


menl  House  Department,  the  Charities  Department,  the  Street  Clean- 
ing Department  and  Bellevue  and  Allied  Hospitals,  to  give  each  its 
share  in  this.  The  functions  of  these  departments  allie  them  closely 
with  the  Department  of  Health,  and  much  of  what  the  latter  may  ac- 
complish depends  upon  their  efficient  administration.  In  the  face  of 
such  results  as  have  heen  shown,  I  do  not  believe  that  there  can  be  any 
serious  criticism  of  the  large  amounts  of  money  appropriated  for  the 
work  of  these  departments  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportion- 
ment. 

In  connection  with  this  saving  of  life  I  wish  to  call  the  atte  ntion 
of  your  Honorable  Board  to  the  section  added  to  the  Sanitary  Code  in 

1904  prohibiting  the  sale  of  carbolic  acid  in  a  stronger  solution  than 
5  per  cent.  In  1903  there  were  345  deaths  in  this  City  due  to  suicide 
by  carbolic  acid.  These  figures  were  startling  enough  to  lead  to  an 
investigation  by  the  Department  of  Health,  the  result  of  which  was  to 
convince  the  city  physicians  that  some  restriction  on  the  sale  of  this 
poison  would  materially  reduce  the  number  of  deaths  of  this  character. 
Accordingly  the  addition  to  the  sanitary  code  mentioned  above  was 
passed,  and  in  1904  the  suicides  by  carbolic  acid  dropped  to  294.  In 

1905  they  dropped  to  89,  in  1906  to  73,  in  1907  to  47,  while  during  the 
first  eleven  months  of  the  present  year  there  were  but  43. 

Tuberculosis. 

In  the  Department  of  Charities,  the  Department  of  Health  and 
Bellevue  and  Allied  Hospitals  a  constant  war  has  been  waged  against 
tuberculosis,  and  the  educational  work  that  has  been  done,  notably 
through  the  recent  tuberculosis  exhibit  at  the  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  has  been  of  incalculable  benefit  to  our  people. 

Dr.  Robert  Koch  who,  in  1882,  definitely  placed  tuberculosis  in 
the  group  of  infectious,  communicable  and  preventable  diseases,  has 
recently  paid  our  City  one  of  the  greatest  compliments  it  lias  ever  re- 

39 


ceived.  Eie  stated  that  conditions  in  the  campaign  against  tuber- 
culosis in  \c\\  York  City  arc  almost  ideal. 

Through  its  different  departments  the  City  is  making  every  pos- 
sible effort  to  provide  adequate  facilities  for  the  care  of  tuberculosis 
patients  and  there  are  already  nearly  3,500  beds  available,  supported 
wholly  or  Largely  by  the  C  ity.  I  call  the  attention  of  your  Honorable 
Board  to  the  fact  that  this  is  25  per  cent,  of  the  hospital  accommoda- 
tion for  cases  of  tuberculosis  in  the  entire  United  States. 

In  November,  100.5,  1,300  acres  of  land  at  Otisville,  Orange 
County,  New  York,  were  purchased  by  the  City  for  use  as  a  sana- 
torium for  incipient  cases  of  tuberculosis.  It  now  has  accommoda- 
tions for  250  patients,  and  it  is  our  purpose  to  add  750  beds  as  soon  as 
possible.  It  is  estimated  that  these  additional  beds  can  be  installed  for 
$300,000,  or  $400  a  bed.  The  cost  per  bed  in  public  and  private  hos- 
pitals recently  built  in  Xew  York  City  is  from  $2,500  to  $5,000. 

With  these  beds,  the  200  beds  in  the  Riverside  Hospital  on  North 
Brother  Island  and  the  1,500  additional  beds  in  the  sanatorium  on 
Staten  Island,  now  being  erected  by  the  Department  of  Charities, 
there  will  be  in  the  entire  United  States  about  16,500  beds  exclusively 
for  tuberculosis,  of  which  this  city  will  have  6,000,  or  about  36  per 
cent. 

The  success  of  the  Otisville  Sanatorium  has  been  demonstrated. 
During  the  two  years  of  its  existence  there  have  been  but  two  deaths 
from  tuberculosis.  Five  hundred  patients  have  been  discharged,  of 
w  hom  20  per  cent,  have  been  completely  cured,  and  in  the  remaining 
SO  per  cent,  the  disease  has  been  completely  arrested,  so  that  in  all 
cases  al  ter  six  months  at  Otisville  the  patients  have  been  able  to  return 
to  their  families  and  their  work,  with  comfort  to  themselves  and  safety 
to  the  communi  ty.  At  the  International  Tuberculosis  Congress  recently 
held  at  Washington,  this  Sanatorium  was  awarded  a  silver  medal  for 
its  high  standard  of  excellence.    At  the  same  Congress  gold  medals 

40 


were  awarded  the  Department  for  its  method  of  supervision  of  tuber- 
culosis. 

Some  idea  of  the  extension  of  this  work  by  the  Department  of 
Health  may  be  gained  from  the  fact  that  while  in  1904  there  were 
16,971  specimens  of  sputum,  examined  for  bacilli  of  tuberculosis, 
there  were  during  the  first  eleven  months  of  this  year  26,793  such  ex- 
aminations. In  addition  to  this,  clinics  for  the  free  treatment  of 
tuberculosis  have  been  opened  in  the  Boroughs  of  .Manhattan.  Brook- 
lyn and  The  Bronx. 

Contagious  Diseases. 
In  1904,  7,790  patients  ill  with  contagious  diseases  were  treated 
at  the  hospitals  of  the  Health  Department.  During  the  first  eleven 
months  of  1908,  10,090  such  patients  Avere  treated.  Because  of  the  ac- 
commodation the  City  has  been  able  to  secure  for  these  cases  it  has  been 
possible  to  obtain  more  control  of  the  spread  of  infection.  Every  ease 
of  contagious  disease  that  the  City  is  able  to  care  for  means  the  re  - 
moval of  a  case  from  a  home,  and  the  consequent  elimination  of  the 
danger  of  the  disease  spreading.  I  deem  it  proper  to  call  your  atten- 
tion to  the  work  along  this  line  that  has  been  done  at  the  Kingston 
Avenue  (Brooklyn),  the  Willard  Parker  and  Riverside  Hospitals. 
In  the  former  we  have  installed  the  following  improvements  since 
1904:  A  scarlet  fever  pavilion,  a  measles  pavilion,  a  morgue,  an  in- 
cinerator building,  two  cold  storage  buildings,  a  stable,  a  disinfect  ion 
station,  a  boiler  house  and  a  nurse's  home.  The  improvements  at  the 
Riverside  Hospital  during  this  period  are  a  disinfecting  station  at  the 
foot  of  East  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-second  street,  a  storehouse,  a 
cold  storage  building,  a  laundry,  a  rest  cure  pavilion,  a  morgue,  a 
dormitory,  a  solarium,  isolation  wards,  a  gas  house  and  a  nurse's  home. 
At  the  Willard  Parker  Hospital  the  improvements  are  a  scarlet  fever 
pavilion,  an  administration  building,  a  laboratory  building,  a  store 
room  and  a  refrigerating  plant. 

41 


In  190(1  the  Department  launched  the  contagious  diseases  boat 
Riverside,  which  is  the  model  craft  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  This 
boai  is  used  to  transport  patients  between  the  Willard  Parker  and 
Riverside  Hospitals,  and  is  equipned  with  every  prevention  of  in- 
fection known  to  medical  science.  It  has  wards  for  the  sick,  a  special 
deck  for  convalescents  and  ample  quarters  for  nurses  and  physicians. 
In  spite  of  the  large  expenditures  already  made,  still  more  accommo- 
dations are  needed,  and  I  believe  that  your  Honorable  Board  will 
agree  with  me  that  unlimited  provision  should  be  made  for  this  pur- 
pose. 

Two  years  ago  Dr.  Robert  Gibson,  a  bacteriologist  of  the  Health 
Department,  perfected  a  method  of  concentration  of  diphtheria  anti- 
toxin, which  has  been  in  use  by  the  Department,  and  which  has  proved 
so  valuable  that  it  has  now  been  adopted  by  all  manufacturers,  as  well 
as  by  all  the  City  and  State  laboratories  in  the  United  States,  and  is 
beginning  to  be  used  abroad.  During  the  past  year  this  method  has 
been  still  further  perfected  by  Dr.  E.  J.  Banzhaf.  These  processes 
have  been  of  great  importance  in  the  administration  of  antitoxin  and 
reflect  great  credit  upon  the  department. 

Milk  Supply. 

The  City  of  New  York  receives  its  supply  of  milk  from  six  dif- 
ferent States:  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Vermont, 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  About  40,000  farms  and  dairies  ship 
milk  to  the  City.  Before  1905  the  control  of  the  milk  supply  was 
purely  local  and  consisted  of  the  inspection  of  the  shops  where  milk 
was  sold  at  retail.  Since  that  date  a  system  of  inspection  of  the  farms 
and  dairies  has  been  instituted,  with  the  result  that  no  dairy  or  cream- 
cry  can  now  ship  milk  to  New  York  City  unless  it  has  conformed  to 
the  sanitary  requirements  of  the  Department  of  Health.  The  num- 
ber of  inspectors  of  milk  has  been  increased  from  seven,  in  1903,  to  42 
in  1908,  and  will  be  still  further  increased  this  year. 

42 


School  Inspection. 

The  exclusion  from  school  attendance  of  children  suffering  from 
contagious  diseases  has  decreased  from  65,294,  in  1903,  to  10,146,  in 
1907.  This  decrease  is  due  to  improved  methods  of  the  control  of 
these  diseases  in  the  schools,  and  is  largely  the  effect  of  the  valuable 
work  performed  by  the  school  nurses. 

In  1905  the  system  of  the  complete  physical  examination  of  each 
school  child  was  instituted.  Since  that  date  626,7»J7  children  have 
been  examined  to  determine  the  presence  of  non-contagious  physical 
defects.  Over  80  per  cent,  of  the  children  examined  have  been  found 
to  be  suffering  from  some  physical  abnormality.  The  nurses  visit 
these  children  at  their  homes  and  instruct  the  parents  in  regard  to  the 
necessity  of  treatment.  The  system  has  been  carried  out  in  its  present 
developed  state  only  since  the  beginning  of  this  school  year,  and  it  is 
yet  too  early  to  give  definite  data,  but  judging  from  the  results  already 
obtained,  it  would  seem  that  this  work  is  potentially  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant ever  undertaken  in  the  line  of  preventive  medicine.  It  is 
already  looked  upon  as  a  model,  not  only  in  this  country,  but  also  by 
the  cities  of  Europe. 

Mosquito  Extermination — Staten  Island. 

Since  1905  a  vigorous  campaign  against  mosquitoes  has  been 
waged  on  Staten  Island  by  the  Board  of  Health  under  the  direction 
of  Dr.  Alvah  H.  Doty,  Health  Officer  of  the  Tort.  This  warfare  lias 
been  conducted  not  only  against  the  striped  legged  variety,  which  is 
most  responsible  for  the  great  annoyance  caused  by  this  insect  along 
the  Atlantic  Coast,  but  also  against  the  inland  mosquito,  of  which  the 
"  Anopheles,"  or  malarial  mosquito  is  the  most  dangerous.  The  work 
has  been  attended  with  the  greatest  success,  especially  that  against  the 
malarial  mosquito. 


43 


In  the  year  1905,  when  the  work  was  begun,  91  cases  of  malaria 
were  reported  on  Staten  Island.  The  following  year  68  cases  were 
reported.  In  1907  there  were  but  five  cases,  and  last  year  but  three 
cases.  There  is  no  doubt  but  what  this  remarkable  falling  off  is  due 
entirely  to  the  work  of  the  Department  of  Health  in  this  Borough. 

In  order  to  wipe  out  the  breeding  places  of  the  striped-legged 
mosquito,  an  appropriation  of  $17,000  was  made  to  the  Department 
of  Health  in  the  latter  part  of  1905,  and  the  draining  of  swamps  was 
immediately  begun.  The  winter  of  1905-6  was  very  mild,  and  it  was 
possible  to  continue  the  work  without  interruption.  In  sections  along 
the  edge  of  the  swamps  on  the  south  side  of  the  Island  are  many 
summer  resorts,  which  prior  to  1905,  suffered  severely  from  swarms 
of  mosquitoes.  At  these  places  the  results  of  drainage  are  very 
marked.  The  mosquitoes  have  practically  disappeared.  Equally 
good  results  were  obtained  in  sections  further  in  the  interior. 

In  1907  an  additional  appropriation  of  $25,000  was  granted  for 
the  work,  and  in  November,  1908,  Dr.  Doty  reported  that  the  entire 
swamp  land  on  Staten  Island  had  been  drained.  All  that  is  necessary 
now  is  to  keep  the  ditches  clean  and  free  of  driftwood,  in  order  to 
allow  of  the  proper  discharge  of  their  contents. 

Not  only  has  this  work  destroyed  the  breeding  places  of  the  mos- 
quitoes, but  it  has  also  reclaimed  the  land  for  building  and  agricul- 
tural purposes,  as  shown  by  the  fact  that  during  the  last  year  the  salt- 
water hay  found  on  these  swamps,  which  is  worth  from  $7  to  $8  a  ton, 
was  harvested.  In  all,  some  600  miles  of  ditches  have  been  dug,  and 
from  ten  to  twelve  square  miles  of  swamp  land  drained  during  the 
past  three  years. 

The  war  against  the  malarial  mosquito  was  also  conducted  vigor- 
ously. Thirty  thousand  circulars  were  distributed  throughout  the 
Island  during  1906  and  1907  explaining  how  the  breeding  places  of 
these  pests  might  be  located  and  destroyed.    The  Department  had  the 

44 


active  co-operation  of  the  people  of  the  Borough.  No  such  remark- 
able falling  off  in  malaria  as  the  direct  result  of  a  crusade  against 
mosquitoes  has  ever  been  reported  by  any  community. 

The  figures  which  I  have  given  do  not,  of  course,  include  the  cases 
received  at  the  Marine  Hospital  at  Stapleton,  all  of  which  were  re- 
moved from  incoming  vessels,  and  cannot,  therefore,  be  credited  to 
the  Borough. 

Dr.  Doty  assures  me  that  there  is  no  doubt  of  the  ultimate  com- 
plete extermination  of  the  malarial  mosquito  on  Staten  Island. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  PUBLIC  CHARITIES. 

The  past  five  years  have  seen  progress  of  a  most  gratifying  nature 
made  in  this  Department.  Improved  methods  of  operation  have  been 
introduced,  and  many  new  buildings  have  been  erected,  until  to-day  it 
is  one  of  the  best  equipped  departments  of  the  city  government,  both  in 
plant  and  personnel. 

Not  only  has  Commissioner  Hebberd  arranged  adequately  to 
meet  the  demands  of  the  present  time,  but  also  the  demands  of  the 
future.  For  the  first  time  we  have  to-day  a  topographical  survey  of 
Blackwell's  Island,  and  the  maps  and  plans  that  have  bee  n  made, 
looking  to  the  ultimate  development  of  the  Island  as  a  hospital  park, 
have  been  approved  by  the  Art  Commission.  When  these  plans  are 
carried  to  consummation,  I  question  if  any  municipality  in  the  world 
will  have  a  hospital  park  approaching  it  in  location  and  facilities. 

Like  surveys  have  been  made  of  other  properties,  and  this  method 
will,  I  feel  sure,  be  a  big  element  in  the  upbuilding  of  this  most  im- 
portant Department,  and  in  helping  us  to  avoid  tin  wasteful,  mi- 
business-like  and  unscientific  practice  of  previous  years  whereby 
structures  differing  widely  in  architectural  form  as  well  as  in  color 
and  material,  have  been  placed  haphazard  without  study  of  future 
growth  or  needs. 

45 


Proper  provision  for  the  housing  of  doctors,  nurses,  orderlies  and 
other  employees  is  essential  to  proper  administration  in  a  Depart- 
ment. Eight  hundred  and  eighteen  such  employees  are  now  being 
cared  for  in  this  manner.  In  addition,  the  equipment  has  been  greatly 
improved,  particularly  in  the  boat  and  ambulance  service  and  by  the 
installation  of  fire-fighting  apparatus.  The  dietary  of  each  institu- 
tion has  also  been  improved,  and  the  examination  of  food  supplies 
made  more  rigid  than  ever. 

The  subsidiary  accounts  of  the  Department,  which  in  previous 
years  were  a  source  of  much  scandal,  have  been  carefully  safe-guarded 
through  the  employment  of  bonded  clerks,  improvement  in  the  system 
of  bookkeeping,  and  more  frequent  inspection  of  the  Auditing  De- 
partment. 

Through  the  generosity  of  Mrs.  Russell  Sage  the  income  of 
$300,000  is  being  used  to  build  up  the  very  important  pathological 
work  of  the  City  Hospital  and  the  City  Home,  Manhattan. 

Blackweli/s  Island. 
At  the  City  Hospital  a  new  staff  house,  a  superintendent's  resi- 
dence, a  large  kitchen,  dining-room  and  service  building,  a  new  power 
house,  a  female  helpers'  dormitory,  and  a  kitchen  and  dining-room 
building  at  the  Nurses'  Home,  have  been  added.  With  the  removal 
of  the  penitentiary  as  planned,  a  large  additional  area  of  ground  will 
be  given  over  to  the  purposes  of  this  hospital.  Through  the  acquisi- 
tion of  a  new  pier  at  the  foot  of  East  Fifty-third  Street,  on  the  grade 
level,  taking  the  place  of  the  pier  at  East  Fifty-second  Street,  which 
was  reached  by  a  long  flight  of  stairs,  and  the  construction  of  a  new 
waiting  room,  the  approach  to  the  hospital  ferry  has  been  greatly  im- 
proved. 

At  the  Metropolitan  Hospital  a  new  building,  with  a  capacity  for 
over  a  hundred  nurses,  has  been  added  to  the  plant,  while  the  present 
nurses'  home  has  been  enlarged  by  the  construction  of  a  commodious 

46 


wing.  Beside  these  improvements,  a  male  helpers'  dormitory  and  a 
kitchen  and  dining-room  building  has  been  .added  to  the  equipment  of 
the  Tuberculosis  Infirmary.  The  construction  of  two  new  tubercu- 
losis hospital  pavilions  at  this  institution  has  been  authorized  at  a  cost 
of  $480,000,  while  the  power  plant  and  the  laundry  are  being  ex- 
tended at  an  approximate  expense  of  $150,000. 

A  contract  has  been  let  for  the  construction  of  a  new  staff  house 
at  this  hospital,  and  the  erection  of  a  new  morgue  and  pathological 
building  has  also  been  authorized. 

Contracts  have  been  let  for  the  preliminary  work  necessary  for 
the  lighting  of  all  the  hospitals  on  Blackwell's  Island  by  electricity. 

The  City  Home  for  the  Aged  and  Infirm  has  also  been  the  seen 
of  extensive  improvements.  Xew  reception  pavilions  for  male  and 
female  inmates,  with  extensive  bathing  and  fumigating  apparatus,  arc- 
now  ready  for  occupancy,  a  new  operating  pavilion  is  completed, 
while  a  new  neurological  hospital  building  and  a  day  room,  w  hich  h  is 
been  greatly  needed  for  years,  are  in  course  of  construction.  As  so  m 
as  these  buildings  are  ready  the  fire  risk  will  be  minimized  through  the 
destruction  of  old  wooden  buildings  which  have  been  in  use  Tor  many 
years. 

Randall's  Island. 

At  the  children's  hospitals  and  schools  two  new  isolation  build- 
ings have  been  added,  thereby  helping  to  control  the  occasional  out- 
breaks of  contagious  diseases  among  the  children,  while  five  thor- 
oughly equipped  toilet  towers  have  been  raided  to  as  many  buildings 
in  which  the  feeble-minded  and  the  epileptic  receive  care. 

The  dormitory  for  male  helpers  on  this  Island,  in  which  the  em- 
ployees slept  in  cells,  has  been  entirely  reconstructed  by  remo^  ing  the 
cells,  substituting  beds  and  making  other  change  s  and  improvements. 
Plans  have  also  been  prepared  for  the  construction  of  a  new  nurses 
home  in  connection  with  the  Children's  Hospital.    A  new  dock  has 

47 


been  acquired  at  the  foot  of  East  One  Hundred  and  Twentieth  Street 
for  the  ferry  to  Randall's  Island.  Inasmuch  as  the  State  proposes  to 
lake  the  feeble-minded  and  epileptic  inmates  of  the  Randall's  Island 
institutions  to  the  new  State  Colony  near  ThehTs,  in  Rockland 
County,  and  to  remove  the  inmates  of  the  House  of  Refuge  on  Ran- 
dall's Island  to  a  proposed  new  institution  near  Yorktown  Heights  in 
Westchester  County,  it  has  been  thought  best  to  move  slowly  in  the 
matter  of  expenditures  for  construction.  There  is  no  reason,  in  my 
opinion,  why.  in  course  of  time,  Randall's  Island  should  not  be  de- 
veloped into  a  beautiful  park  for  the  sick  children  of  the  poor. 

Borough  of  Manhattan. 
The  new  Municipal  Lodging  House  on  East  Twenty-fifth 
Street,  the  construction  of  which  has  been  delayed  through  serious 
engineering  difficulties,  is  nearing  completion.  It  will  provide  ac- 
commodation for  as  many  as  1,000  homeless  men  and  women,  with 
every  convenience  for  bathing  and  fumigation.  It  will  be  the  most 
complete  building  of  its  kind  ever  erected,  and  a  valuable  and  unpre- 
cedented contribution  to  the  humanities,  as  well  as  the  sanitation  of 
the  City. 

Borough  of  Brooklyn. 
In  this  Borough  the  Department  now  has  its  own  office  build- 
ing. In  it  are  housed  the  general  borough  officers,  the  Bureau  of  De- 
pendent Adults,  and  the  Children's  Bureau.  The  new  Coney  Island 
Hospital,  which  will  be  the  first  general  public  hospital  constructed  in 
the  Borough  for  many  years,  is  rapidly  approaching  completion.  It 
has  a  bed  capacity  of  100,  and  can  readily  and  economically  be  en- 
larged so  as  to  provide  for  double  that  number.  It  has,  in  addition 
to  the  main  building,  a  new  nurses'  home  and  separate  quarters  for 
the  male  and  female  help.  In  connection  with  this  hospital,  to  pro- 
vide for  future  extension,  real  property  to  the  extent  of  twenty  acres 
has  been  acquired  on  the  Ocean  Parkway. 

48 


For  the  new  Bradford  Street  Hospital  a  site  has  been  purchased 
and  plans  are  now  in  course  of  completion  for  the-  hospital  building, 
the  construction  of  which,  at  a  cost  of  $2.50,000,  1ms  been  author- 
ized. At  the  Kings  County  Hospital,  Flatbush,  a  new  psychopathic 
pavilion  and  a  new  Nurses'  Home  have  been  erected,  and  a  morgue 
and  pathological  building  are  in  course  of  construction.  Plans  have 
also  been  prepared  and  the  means  provided  for  the  addition  of  a 
new  wing  to  the  hospital  itself.  All  of  these  improvements  will  add 
greatly  to  the  facilities  of  this  institution. 

Borough  of  Richmond. 

In  this  Borough,  what  I  regard  as  one  of  the  greatest  works  ever 
undertaken  by  the  Department  of  Charities,  is  now  we  ll  under  way. 
I  refer  to  the  new  Sea  View  Sanatorium.  This  work  was  considerably 
delayed  by  court  proceedings,  but  the  contracts  for  six  of  the  eight 
pavilions  have  been  let  at  a  cost  of  $873,000.  and  it  is  expected  that 
some  of  these  pavilions  will  be  so  far  advanced  in  construction  that 
they  can  be  roofed  over  before  the  work  is  discontinued  for  the  winter. 
This  great  tuberculosis  sanatorium,  which  will  equal  in  design  and 
equipment  any  ever  constructed,  will  ultimately  provide  effective  c  are 
for  1,500  patients. 

The  Department  has  also  obtained  a  pier  at  Mariner's  Harbor, 
and  has  built  three  new  cottages  for  the  care  of  the  poor,  and  a  new 
dormitory  of  thirty  beds  for  the  use  of  male  employees. 

Present  Conditions. 

As  a  result  of  the  work  of  the  past  live  years  it  may  be  stated 
that  the  Department  of  Public  Charities  is  in  plant,  equipment  and 
administration,  in  better  condition  than  ever  before  in  its  history. 

The  institutions  of  this  Department  are  subject  to  the  constitu- 
tional supervision  of  the  State  Board  of  Charities,  whose  report  for 

49 


1907  contains  the  following  statement  with  relation  to  the  improve- 
ments that  have  heen  made: 

"  In  conclusion,  your  Commissioner  wishes  to  emphasize  his  satis- 
faction at  the  generous  consideration  given  by  the  administration  of 
Mayor  McClellan  to  the  request  for  the  appropriations  for  new  build- 
ings, for  improvements,  and  for  more  adequate  maintenance  made  by 
the  Commissioner  of  Public  Charities.  The  results  are  most  marvel- 
ous. Should  reasonable  applications  yet  to  be  made  by  this  Depart- 
ment of  The  City  Government  within  the  next  few  years  meet  with  the 
same  favorable  action  by  the  Mayor  and  the  Board  of  Estimate  and 
Apportionment,  the  reproach  which  has  so  long  been  laid  at  the  door 
of  our  City  that  it  has  neglected  its  sick  poor  while  spending  lavishly 
for  other  purposes,  will  be  removed  and  our  citizens  enabled  to  '  point 
with  pride  '  to  well-planned  and  maintained  public  hospitals  and 
homes,  as  for  a  generation  they  have  called  attention  to  the  excellence 
of  many  of  the  charitable  institutions  supported  by  private  benevo- 
lence." 

BELLEVUE  AND  ALLIED  HOSPITALS. 

It  has  been  the  policy  of  this  administration  to  keep  the  work  of 
these  hospitals  up  to  the  very  highest  point  of  efficiency,  and  under  the 
energetic  direction  of  Dr.  Brannan,  this  has  been  possible  without 
any  extraordinary  expenditure  of  money.  There  are  no  similar  in- 
stitutions in  the  city  the  work  of  which  is  so  close  to  the  mass  of  our 
people,  and  it  should  be  a  matter  of  pride  to  us  all  to  note  what  has 
been  accomplished  during  the  past  five  years  in  this  field  of  municipal 
activity. 

First  in  importance  are  the  new  buildings  which  have  been  erected. 
These  are  Harlem  and  Fordham  Hospitals,  opened  on  May  1,  1907; 
a  new  wing  at  Gouverneur  Hospital,  opened  in  the  fall  of  1907; 
Pavilions  A  and  B  of  the  new  Bellevue  Hospital,  opened  on  ]STovem- 


50 


ber  4  last,  and  the  new  Training  School  For  Nurses  at  Bellevue,  which 
will  be  opened  in  February. 

The  Harlem  and  Fordham  Hospitals  accommodate  L50  patients 
each,  the  new  wing  at  Gouverneur  Hospital  accommodates  63  patients 
and  Pavilions  A  and  B,  at  Bellevue,  397  patients,  a  net  increase  of 
660  beds. 

In  addition  to  the  completion  of  the  two  pavilions  at  Bellevue, 
the  new  pathological  department  and  the  dormitory  for  men  employees 
are  well  advanced  and  will  be  completed  next  summer.  Contracts 
have  also  been  awarded  for  a  new  boiler  house  and  a  coaling  station. 
The  bulkhead  wall  under  construction  by  the  Department  of  Docks 
and  Ferries  is  being  pushed  rapidly  and  will  shortly  add  two  and 
one-half  acres  to  the  grounds  of  the  hospital. 

The  new  building  for  the  training  school  of  women  nurses  at 
Bellevue  is  practically  completed.  It  will  accommodate  300  nurses. 
Plans  for  a  training  school  at  Harlem  Hospital  have  also  been  pre- 
pared. 

Upon  the  opening  of  the  Harlem  and  Fordham  Hospitals,  the 
nursing  of  patients,  which  was  formerly  furnished  by  the  training 
school  of  the  City  Hospital,  was  assumed  by  this  department.  Owing 
to  the  impossibility  of  procuring  pupil  nurses  it  was  necessary  to 
appoint  graduate  nurses  at  a  salary  of  $600  a  year.  Later,  a  course 
in  post-graduate  nursing  was  established  and  the  majority  of  the 
graduate  nurses  have  now  been  replaced  by  post-graduate  nurses  at 
a  salary  of  $300  a  year. 

Considerable  attention  has  been  given  during  the  five  years  to 
the  rules  and  regulations  affecting  the  medical  service  of  the  depart- 
ment. A  rule  has  been  adopted  requiring  professional  experience 
varying  from  three  to  ten  years  in  all  appointees  to  the  \  isiting  staff, 
also  a  rule  requiring  the  presence  of  a  visiting  or  assistant  visiting 
surgeon  at  all  operations  involving  genera]  anaesthesia. 


51 


The  most  important  improvements  in  the  administration  of  the 
department  are  the  appointment  of  four  paid  admitting  physicians 
at  Bellevue  to  examine  all  applicants  for  admission,  the  appointment 
of  two  trained  nurses  to  devote  their  entire  time  to  investigating  the 
needs  and  home  conditions  of  patients  about  to  leave  the  hospital,  in 
order  to  supply  needed  relief,  through  the  co-operation  of  philan- 
thropic societies  and  from  a  fund  established  by  voluntary  contribu- 
tions: the  establishment  of  day  camps  aboard  the  disused  ferryboats 
"Southfield"  and  "Westfield,"  for  patients  suffering  from  tuberculosis; 
the  supplying  of  tooth  brushes  to  all  patients  in  the  hospitals  of  the 
department,  and  the  appointment  of  forty  dentists  at  Bellevue  to  care 
for  and  treat  the  defective  teeth  of  patients,  particularly  children. 

A  new  system  of  recording  cases  has  been  prepared  by  the  Medi- 
cal Board,  a  system  that  has  since  been  adopted  by  many  of  the  lead- 
ing hospitals  throughout  the  country.  It  is  also  gratifying  to  note 
that  the  nomenclature  established  by  the  Medical  Board  of  Bellevue 
has  been  made  national  in  its  application  through  its  adoption  by  the 
authorities  in  Washington.  A  volume  of  medical  and  surgical  reports 
of  cases  treated  in  the  hospital  which  have  special  scientific  interest 
lias  been  prepared  by  members  of  the  visiting  staff  and  published. 
Four  additional  volumes  are  now  in  course  of  preparation. 

It  is  proposed  to  establish  a  neuro-psychiatric  department,  in 
which  the  patients  suffering  from  mild  mental  disease  and  functional 
nervous  diseases  will  be  grouped.  It  is  planned  to  place  the  alcoholic 
service  also  in  this  department.  This  grouping  will  enable  the 
physicians  who  are  skilled  in  mental  diseases  to  separate  those  patients 
in  whom  alcoholism  is  an  expression  of  a  mental  illness  from  the  wilful 
and  habitual  drunkards,  enabling  the  former  to  receive  the  scientific 
treatment  which  they  require,  and  prevent  imposition  on  the  city  by 
the  latter  class. 


52 


DEPARTMENT  OF  EDUCATION. 

New  York  City  is  traditionally  liberal  in  the  matter  of  public 
education.  During  the  past  five  years  the  demands  on  if  for  this  pur- 
pose have  grown  at  a  greater  rate  than  ever  before  in  our  history.  It 
has  been  the  constant  aim  of  the  Board  to  return  to  the  community, 
not  only  in  facilities  for  obtaining  education,  but  in  actual  education, 
full  value  for  every  dollar  expended.  As  Mayor  of  the  city,  I  am 
very  proud  of  what  has  been  accomplished  in  this  direction  during  the 
past  five  years.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  being  satisfied  with  the 
work  of  a  department  of  this  character,  for,  with  a  population  which 
grows  like  ours,  there  is  always  more  to  be  done.  Bui  the  record  is 
an  excellent  one,  as  the  statistics  which  I  have  the  honor  to  place  before 
you  show. 

Since  1904,  the  new  sites  acquired  number  17(.>.  not  including 
11  sites  authorized  to  be  acquired.  Ninety-six  new  buildings  and  L34 
additions  to  existing  buildings  have  been  erected  in  this  time,  pro- 
viding 226,552  sittings.  In  addition  to  this,  14  new  buildings  and 
14  additions,  providing  45,380  sittings,  are  under  contract. 

On  June  30,  1904,  there  were  501  schools  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Department.  On  September  30  last  there  were  522  schools. 
This  apparent  inconsistency  with  the  above  statement  of  new  buildings 
opened  is  due  to  the  consolidation  of  schools  and  the  abandonment  of 
many  of  the  old  and  smaller  buildings. 


Statistics  of  School  Attendan<  r. 


1903- 

1904- 

1905- 

IQ06- 

1907- 

1904. 

1905. 

1906. 

1907. 

1 908. 

622.201 

655-503 

680.322 

695.614 

7l6?005 

466,571 

487,005 

505,827 

5  -'3,084 

545,093 

19-330 

20.770 

-'1.403 

2  2.03 1 

25.264 

Average  register  in  training  schools  

75S 

8)9 

1.217 

1.463 

1,713 

Average  register  in  elementary  schools.  . 

496.925 

515,526 

529.81 1 

550.-174 

569,782 

13,645 

13.00 

15,609 

16.785 

20  >8j 

On  January  31,  1904,  there  were  75,460  pupils  on  part  time  in 
the  city.  On  June  30  last  there  were  55,965.  In  this  connection  I  wish 
(o  state  that  a  school  day  for  part  time  pupils  is  3%  hours,  while  the 
regular  school  day  is  5  hours. 

Ten  evening  high  schools  and  6.5  evening  elementary  schools 
were  operated  in  the  season  of  1903-1904.  This  season  15  high  and 
8.5  elementary  evening  schools  are  in  operation.  In  addition,  the 
Board  has  continued  the  vacation  schools,  vacation  playgrounds,  even- 
ing recreation  centres,  open  air  playgrounds,  afternoon  roof  play- 
grounds, evening  roof  playgrounds,  piers,  baths,  kindergarten  centres, 
etc. 

The  number  of  lecture  centres  has  been  increased  from  143  in  1904 
to  178  in  c1908  and  the  number  of  lectures  delivered  from  4,665  to 
5.572.    The  attendance  at  these  lectures  has  grown  in  proportion. 

Xew  buildings  for  the  New  York  Training  School  for  Teachers 
and  the  Brooklyn  Training  School  for  Teachers  were  opened  in  1907. 
In  1906,  the  State  Normal  School,  located  at  Jamaica,  was  taken  over 
by  the  Board  of  Education,  and  is  now  the  Jamaica  Training  School 
for  Teachers. 

Among  the  important  buildings  opened  since  1904  are: 

DeWitt  Clinton  High  School,  Manhattan,  opened  1906. 

Stuyvesant  High  School,  Manhattan,  opened  1907. 

Manual  Training  High  School,  Brooklyn,  opened  1905. 

Commercial  High  School,  Brooklyn,  opened  1906. 

Erasmus  Hall  High  School  (part),  Brooklyn,  opened  1906. 

Eastern  District  High  School,  Brooklyn,  opened  1907. 

Bryant  High  School,  Long  Island  City,  Queens,  opened  1904. 

Curtis  High  School,  New  Brighton,  Richmond,  opened  1904. 

A  site  For  a  new  building  for  the  Washington  Irving  High 
School,  on  Irving  place,  East  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  streets,  was 
acquired  in  1906  and  1907. 


54 


V 


TYPES    OF    MODERN  SCHOOLS. 
Public  School  No.  66,  Eighty-eighth  Street,  near  First  Avenue,  Manhattan. 


A  site  for  a  supply  depository  building  on  First  avenue.  East 
Sixty-seventh  and  Sixty-eighth  streets,  was  acquired  in  1(.)()7. 

A  site  for  a  new  high  school  in  Brooklyn,  on  Irving  and  Putnam 
avenues,  was  obtained  in  1908  through  the  co-operation  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Parks. 

A  site  for  a  parental  school  was  acquired  in  1904,  and  the  build- 
ings are  far  advanced  toward  completion. 

In  190.5  a  beginning  was  made  in  the  establishment  of  classes  for 
crippled  children,  and  in  the  following  year  two  schools  for  crippled 
children  established  as  private  institutions  were  taken  charge  of  by 
the  Board. 

In  1907  the  Board  secured  from  the  Xavy  Department  the  loan 
of  the  gunboat  "Newport"  as  a  training  ship  for  the  New  York 
Nautical  School,  to  take  the  place  of  the  antiquated  "'St.  Mary's." 

The  first  public  school  for  deaf  mutes  in  this  city  was  opened  in 
September,  1908. 

A  special  school  for  backward  and  defective  children  was  estab- 
lished in  Public  School  120,  Manhattan,  in  1906. 

In  1905,  special  attention  having  been  directed  to  the  physical 
condition  of  the  public  school  children,  the  Board  of  Estimate  and 
Apportionment,  on  the  request  of  the  Board  of  Education,  authorized 
the  issue  of  Corporate  Stock  to  the  amount  of  $.500,000  for  the  acqui- 
sition, construction  and  improvement  of  sites  for  four  athletic  fields. 
In  that  year  and  the  following  year  sites  were  purchased  as  follow  s: 

Adjoining  the  Curtis  High  School.  Richmond  (Curtis  Athletic 
Field)  ;  on  Avenues  K  and  L,  East  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  streets, 
Brooklyn  (Brooklyn  Athletic  Field)  ;  on  Orchard  and  Munson  streets 
and  East  River,  Astoria,  Queens  (Astoria  Athletic  Field).  In  The 
Bronx  a  plot  of  land  in  Crotona  Park  was  assigned  by  the  Park  De- 
partment to  the  Board  of  Education  for  the  Crotona  Athletic  Field; 
The  work  of  erecting  a  grandstand  has  been  completed  at  the  Curtis 

55 


Field,  is  nearly  completed  at  the  Astoria  Field,  and  is  well  advanced 
at  the  Crotona  Field.  All  of  the  athletic  fields,  with  the  exception 
of  the  one  last  named,  have  been  in  active  use  for  some  time.  The 
cost  of  the  athletic  fields  with  their  equipment  was  $369,0*21). OS.  leaving 
a  balance  of  $130,970.92. 

The  Third  Biennial  School  Census  was  taken  in  October,  1906, 
showing  953,485  children  between  the  ages  of  five  and  eighteen,  of 
whom  557.368  attended  public  schools  and  131,044  other  than  public 
schools;  the  number  of  truants  reported  was  only  411. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  BRIDGES. 

Municipal  Office  Building. 

I  regard  the  erection  of  the  new  municipal  office  building,  which 
is  part  of  the  general  scheme  of  extension  of  the  Manhattan  terminal 
of  the  Brooklyn  Bridge,  as  one  of  the  most  important  projects  the 
City  has  ever  undertaken.  This  building  is  to  cost  approximately 
$8,000,000  and  when  completed  will  house  almost  all  of  the  City  de- 
partments. The  various  departments  which  it  has  been  decided  to 
place  in  this  building  are  to-day  paying  $453,593.46  annual  rental. 
Xot  only  will  this  rental  be  saved  each  year  but  it  is  calculated  that 
ample  accommodation  will  be  found  in  the  building  for  many  of  the 
principal  courts.  It  is  too  early  to  say  just  how  large  a  saving  will 
be  accomplished,  but  it  may  be  possible  to  care  for  so  many  of  the 
courts  that  the  construction  of  a  new  court-house  will  be  unnecessary. 

The  Commissioner  of  Bridges,  under  chapter  670,  Laws  of  1907, 
was  authorized,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Board  of  Estimate 
and  Apportionment,  to  provide  for  the  erection  of  the  municipal  build- 
ing upon  land  already  acquired  for  the  extension  of  the  Manhattan 
terminal  of  the  Brooklyn  Bridge.  In  my  annual  message  to  your 
Honorable  Board  two  years  ago  I  recommended  that  all  architectural 
work  outside  of  the  minor  work  of  City  departments,  be  awarded  after 


56 


NEW    MUNICIPAL  BUILDING. 
As  it  will  appear  from  Chambers  Street,  west  of  Broadway. 

McKim,  Mead  &  White,  Architects. 


competition,  the  contestants  to  select  their  own  juries.  This  plan  w  as 
followed  with  most  satisfactory  results  in  the  case  of  the  municipal 
building. 

On  December  12,  1907,  the  conditions  governing  the  competition 
were  issued  to  the  competitors.  These  conditions  required  the  design 
of  an  office  building,  not  less  than  twenty  stories  high,  to  be  located 
on  the  plot  of  land,  included  in  the  blocks  bounded  by  Park  row. 
Duane  street,  Centre  street  and  Tryon  row,  Chambers  street,  from 
Park  row  to  Centre  street,  passing  through  the  building. 

Twelve  designs  were  submitted  by  the  competitors  on  April  15, 
1908.  These  designs  were  carefully  reviewed  by  the  jury  already 
selected  by  the  competitors  themselves.  Early  in  May  the  jury 
selected  the  design  of  McKim,  Mead  &  White. 

The  design  selected  is  for  a  twenty-five-story  building,  sur- 
mounted by  a  tower  ten  stories  in  height.  The  total  height  of  the 
building,  including  the  tower,  will  be  5.59  feet,  the  third  highest  oilier 
building  in  the  City. 

Immediately  after  the  selection  of  the  architect  the  development 
of  detail  plans  was  begun.  On  May  22  the  Board  of  Estimate  au- 
thorized an  issue  of  $2,700,000  of  Corporate  Stock  to  defray  the  cos1 
of  the  foundations  of  the  building  and  to  pay  the  architects'  fees. 

The  general  plans  of  the  building  were  approved  by  the  Art 
Commission  June  IT.  By  October  16  the  plans,  specifications  and  a 
form  of  contract  for  the  foundations  had  been  prepared  in  detail  and 
approved  by  the  Board  of  Estimate,  and  on  November  12,  bids  for  the 
construction  of  the  foundations  of  the  building  were  advertised  for. 
These  bids  were  opened  on  December  3  and  a  contract  subsequently 
awarded. 

The  plans  for  the  building  proper  are  being  rapidly  developed 
and  it  is  expected  to  let  a  contract  for  the  steel  frame,  shell,  and  all 
the  plumbing  and  piping  of  the  building  in  the  spring. 


57 


The  Brooklyn  Bridge. 

Since  11)04  there  has  been  a  steady  increase  in  both  the  trolley  and 
elevated  railroad  service  on  this  bridge.  The  growth  in  the  capacity  of 
the  trolley  service  since  1003  is  shown  by  a  day's  record  in  each  of  the 
years  from  1903  to  1908,  inclusive: 

1903         1904         1905         1908         1907  1908 
Cars   3,807       3,840        3,972        3,99.5        4,29.5  4,332 

During  this  period  the  number  of  trolley  cars  operated  across  the 
bridge  during  the  rush  hours  has  been  increased  from  220  an  hour  in 
1904,  to  as  high  as  347  an  hour  in  1908.  As  the  result  of  the  construc- 
tion of  a  steel  viaduct  across  Sands  street,  Brooklyn,  which  was  put 
in  operation  on  September  28  last,  the  running  time  of  trolley  cars 
across  the  bridge  has  been  cut  down  33  per  cent. 

The  work  of  extending  the  Manhattan  station  across  Park  row 
to  secure  greater  train  accommodation,  was  started  in  1907.  On 
January  27  last,  the  operation  of  through  elevated  railroad  trains  at 
all  hours  of  the  day  was  begun,  and  six-car  trains  have  since  been 
operated  during  the  morning  and  evening  rush  hours.  The  conse- 
quent retirement  of  the  bridge  local  trains  has  eliminated  the  change 
of  cars  and  stair-climbing  at  the  Brooklyn  end,  and  the  crush  and 
congestion  during  the  evening  rush  hours  at  the  Park  Bow  station. 

We  are  now  operating  388  cars  each  rush  hour  in  the  elevated 
service,  as  against  a  limit  of  268  cars  an  hour  in  1905.  Seven  plat- 
forms are  now  used  in  loading  and  unloading  in  place  of  the  single 
one  used  in  190.5,  while  the  operation  of  trains  is  safeguarded  by  the 
most  improved  electric  signal  system  known.  It  was  distinctly  under- 
stood at  the  time  of  the  erection  of  this  temporary  terminal  that  it  was 
to  be  removed  as  soon  as  the  subway  loop  was  completed,  and  this 
understanding  still  holds. 


58 


Warren  &  Wetmore,  Architects 


Warren  &  Wetmore,  Architects. 


The  Williamsburgh  Bridge. 

On  January  1,  1904,  neither  the  elevated  nor  surface  car  tracks 
had  been  laid  on  the  Williamsburgh  Bridge,  although  the  bridge  had 
been  officially  declared  open.  Contracts  were  at  once  made  for  this 
purpose,  and  traffic  agreements  were  entered  into  with  the  Brooklyn 
companies  for  the  operation  of  cars  on  the  southerly  tracks  to  the 
station  in  New  York,  and  with  the  New  York  Company  for  the  opera- 
tion of  cars  on  the  northerly  tracks  to  the  Plaza  at  the  Brooklyn  end. 

On  November  3,  1904,  the  Brooklyn  cars  commenced  operation, 
and  on  February  9,  190.5,  the  Fourteenth  Street  and  Eighth  Street 
lines  of  the  New  York  Company  were  started,  followed  by  the  Grand 
Street  line  on  November  28,  1905,  the  Fourth  Avenue  line  on  January 
28,  1907,  and  the  Post  Office  line  on  June  7,  1908.  On  June  30,  1906, 
the  Manhattan  terminal  of  the  Brooklyn  trolley  lines  was  increased  to 
double  its  original  capacity,  and  on  May  18,  1908,  the  new  subway 
station,  containing  eight  loops,  was  opened.  This  subway  station  was 
started  and  completed  during  the  present  administration. 

The  growth  of  traffic  on  this  bridge  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the 
daily  average  for  both  ways  in  1905  was  10.5,182  passengers,  while 
during  1908  it  was  177,736.  Of  this  latter  number,  45,113  were  daily 
carried  on  the  elevated  railroad,  trains  over  which  were  first  run  on 
September  16  last,  on  the  opening  of  the  Subway  station  at  the  Man- 
hattan end,  now  used  for  both  trolley  and  elevated  trains. 

With  the  improvements  now  completed  and  available,  the  bridge 
can  take  care  of  a  traffic  of  125,000  people  an  hour  in  one  direction 
on  its  elevated  and  surface  car  tracks.  The  traffic  now  carried  during 
an  entire  day  could  almost  be  transported  either  way  over  the  bridge 
in  a  single  hour  with  the  capacity  put  to  its  full  use.  The  Subway 
station  furnished  accommodations  for  eight  car  elevated  railroad 
trains.  It  has  eight  trolley  loops,  with  separate  entrances  and  exits 
to  each  of  the  trolley  lines  and  elevated  railroad  platforms.     It  is  a 


59 


durable  structure  and  the  most  commodious  of  its  kind  in  the  country. 
Jt  has  been  designed  so  as  to  form  a  part  of  any  subway  system  con- 
necting with  or  using  the  bridge  as  a  part  of  its  route. 

The  Queensboro  Bridge. 

This  bridge  will  certainly  be  opened  early  this  year.  The 
contract  for  the  superstructure  was  let  in  November,  1903.  It  called 
for  a  cantilever  bridge  with  a  roadway  and  four  trolley  tracks  on  the 
lower  deck,  and  two  elevated  tracks  and  two  foot  walks  on  the  upper 
deck.  In  December,  1904,  the  contract  was  changed  to  provide  for 
four  tracks  on  the  upper  deck. 

After  the  collapse  of  the  Quebec  bridge,  also  a  cantilever  bridge, 
questions  were  raised  in  the  engineering  profession  as  to  whether 
cantilever  bridges  were  being  built  with  a  proper  margin  of  safety. 
The  subject  was  freely  discussed  in  the  public  prints,  and  the  Bridge 
Commissioner,  with  my  approval,  retained  William  H.  Burr  and 
Boiler  &  Hodge,  to  make  reports  on  all  features  pertaining  to  the 
Queensboro  Bridge.  The  reports  have  been  made  public  and  as  a  re- 
sult of  them,  it  is  deemed  expedient  to  use  but  two  of  the  tracks  on  the 
upper  deck.  This  has  made  necessary  certain  changes  and  the  bridge, 
when  opened,  will  have  the  same  capacity  as  the  Williamsburgh 
Bridge,  125,000  passengers  an  hour. 

The  bridge  will  immediately  be  of  great  public  benefit.  It  will 
be  the  gateway  through  which  the  farmers  of  Long  Island  will  bring 
their  produce  to  the  markets  of  Manhattan,  and  will  also  open  a 
thoroughfare  for  the  merchants  of  Manhattan  to  send  their  wares  to 
liOng  Island.  Freight  from  all  parts  of  the  country  will  be  delivered 
to  Manhattan  from  the  Sunnyside  Yard  of  the  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road, which  is  at  the  Long  Island  City  terminus  of  the  bridge.  The 
bridge  will  probably  be  used  to  as  great,  and  probably  greater  ex- 
tent for  automobile  traffic  than  any  other  like  thoroughfare  in  the 

60 


world.  I  expect  the  manufacturing  industries  of  Queens  to  be  greatly 
benefited  by  the  opening  of  the  bridge,  as  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
vast  undeveloped  area  of  the  Borough  of  Queens,  convenient  to  the 
bridge,  is  particularly  adaptable  to  manufacturing  enterprises. 

The  Manhattan  Bridge. 

This  bridge,  it  is  now  believed,  will  be  completed  late  in  1909  or 
early  in  1910.  Litigation  held  up  the  contract  for  the  steel  super- 
structure from  1901  to  1906.  In  June  of  the  latter  year,  however,  the 
contract  was  entered  into,  and  of  the  2.5,000,000  pounds  of  steel  re- 
quired for  the  towers,  all  but  600,000  pounds  have  been  erected.  All 
of  the  37,888  wires  required  in  the  four  cables  have  been  taken  from 
tower  to  tower  and  assembled  into  completed  strands.  The  cables 
will  be  fully  completed  early  this  year. 

The  38,000,000  pounds  of  steel  required  for  the  suspended  spans 
has  been  manufactured  and  delivered.  The  erection  of  this  steel  is 
now  under  way,  and  the  construction  of  the  approaches  is  progressing 
rapidly. 

Studies  have  been  made  for  terminals  for  the  bridge,  but  the 
Bridge  Department  cannot  definitely  complete  the  plans  until  the 
Public  Service  Commission  and  the  Board  of  Estimate  determine  how 
the  transit  facilities  for  the  bridge  are  to  be  used. 

The  bridge  will  provide  for  four  railway  tracks  on  the  lower  or 
roadway  floor,  and  four  railway  tracks  over  these  on  the  upper  deck. 
There  will  be  a  roadway  for  vehicles  on  the  lower  floor  about  35  feet 
wide,  and  two  footwalks  on  the  same  level.  With  the  bridge  used  to 
its  fullest  capacity  for  railroad  traffic,  it  will  be  possible  to  carry  across 
175,000  passengers  per  hour  each  way. 

The  Henry  Hudson  Memorial  Bridge. 
This  bridge,  the  plans  and  specifications  for  which  are  in  course 
of  preparation,  will  be  a  reinforced  concrete  structure  about  3,000 

61 


feet  in  length.  An  arch,  having  a  clear  span  of  703  feet,  will  form  the 
central  part  of  the  bridge.  This  span  will  be  over  twice  as  long  as 
any  other  masonry  span  ever  constructed.  It  will  have  a  clear  height 
of  183  feet  above  high  water. 

This  bridge,  with  its  open  roadway  and  80-foot  wide  walks,  and 
its  lower  deck  with  four  tracks  suitable  for  either  heavy  trains  or 
trolley  cars,  will  lend  itself  to  any  scheme  of  transportation  develop- 
ment, without  impairing  the  beauty  of  the  architectural  effect  which 
has  been  attained  in  the  design.  It  is  proposed  to  lay  out  parks  and 
parkways  as  approaches  and  embellishments  to  the  structure.  It  is 
also  intended  to  extend  Riverside  Drive  to  connect  with  the  bridge,  and 
in  this  way  with  the  extensive  parkway  system  of  The  Bronx. 

Other  Bridges. 
In  the  enthusiasm  over  the  completion  of  the  great  bridges  across 
the  East  River,  we  are  apt  to  overlook  the  large  number  of  smaller 
bridges  which  have  been  built  during  the  past  five  years  across  the 
City's  navigable  streams.  These  bridges,  however,  are  not  only  of 
great  importance  to  the  sections  in  which  they  are  located,  but  to  the 
entire  City. 

The  Vernon  Avenue  bridge  over  Newtown  Creek,  connecting 
Manhattan  Avenue,  Brooklyn,  with  Vernon  Avenue,  Queens,  was 
opened  in  1905.  It  is  one  of  the  largest  Bascule  bridges  in  the  conn- 
try,  its  double  leaf  lifts,  having  a  water  span  of  172  feet.  It  is  1,699 
feet  long  and  40  feet  wide,  has  a  double  railroad  track,  two  sidewalks, 
each  eight  feet  w  ide,  and  cost  $1,250,000.  It  is  electrically  operated 
and  can  be  opened  and  closed  in  90  seconds. 

The  bridge  has  been  a  great  factor  in  the  development  of  this  sec- 
tion of  the  City.  The  pedestrian  travel  is  in  excess  of  that  over  either 
the  Brooklyn  or  Williamsburgh  bridges,  and  at  the  present  time  ap- 
proximately 2,500  vehicles,  not  including  trolley  cars,  cross  the  bridge 

62 


each  day.  When  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  tunnels  are  completed 
and  the  Sunnyside  Yard  development  finished,  this  bridge  will  be  the 
direct  means  of  access  to  them  from  Brooklyn. 

The  Flushing  Bridge,  across  Flushing  C  reek,  opened  in  1906,  is 
also  destined  to  play  an  important  part  in  the  development  of  Queens, 
as  it  is  on  the  main  line  of  travel  between  the  Queensboro  Bridge  and 
all  points  on  the  north  shore  of  Long  Island.  It  was  designed  with 
a  view  to  accommodating  the  large  volume  of  traffic  which  will  find 
its  way  over  the  Queensboro  Bridge. 

In  May  last  a  new  bridge  across  Dutch  Kills,  known  as  the 
Borden  Avenue  Bridge,  was  opened.  This  bridge  also  is  on  the  main 
line  of  travel  between  the  Queensboro  Bridge  and  the  roadway  sys- 
tem of  Long  Island.  The  section  contiguous  to  this  bridge  is  being 
rapidly  developed. 

The  Ship  Canal  Bridge,  which  carries  Broadway  across  the  canal 
at  Two  Hundred  and  Twenty-second  Street,  was  reconstructed  and 
open  for  traffic  in  January,  190.5. 

The  University  Heights  Bridge  across  the  Harlem  River,  con- 
necting the  University  Heights  section  of  The  Bronx  with  Manhattan, 
was  opened  for  traffic  just  a  year  ago.  It  is  an  important  feature  of 
the  development  of  this  section  of  the  City,  as  the  Manhattan  approach 
practically  runs  up  to  the  Two  Hundred  and  Seventh  Street  station 
of  the  Broadway  branch  of  the  Manhattan-Brooklyn  Subway  system. 

The  new  Pelham  Bay  Bridge  over  Eastchester  Bay.  was  opened 
in  October  last,  and  is  of  general  value  to  the  community,  as  it  is  along 
the  Eastern  Boulevard,  which  joins  the  Boston  Post  Road  at  New 
Rochelle,  from  which  point  begins  the  main  line  of  travel  to  New 
England. 

A  new  bridge  across  the  Harlem  River,  connecting  One  Hundred 
and  Forty-fifth  Street,  Manhattan,  with  One  Hundred  and  Forty- 
ninth  Street.  Bronx,  was  opened  in  August.  1 00.5. 

63 


In  March,  L905,  four  new  bascule,  or  lift  bridges  were  opened 
across  Gowanus  C  anal.  Brooklyn,  one  at  Hamilton  Avenue,  one  at 
Ninth  Street,  one  at  Third  Street  and  one  at  Union  Street. 

A  new  IMadison  Avenue  Bridge  is  now  in  course  of  construction 
across  the  Harlem  River  at  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-eighth  Street. 
Two  sets  of  railroad  tracks  will  be  placed  on  the  roadway  of  this 
bridge. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  CORRECTIOX. 

The  Xew  Penitentiary. 
More  than  two-thirds  of  the  corporate  stock  authorized  for 
the  Department  of  Correction  during  this  administration  will  go 
toward  the  construction  of  the  new  penitentiary  on  Riker's  Island. 
It  will  provide  for  2,000  men  and  500  women  prisoners,  and  will  be 
the  largest  institution  of  its  kind  in  this  country.  The  concrete  prison 
wall,  twenty-eight  feet  high,  will  inclose  nearly  twenty  acres,  covering 
nearly  all  the  north  end  of  the  original  island.  The  architects  spent 
a  year  in  the  study  of  the  best  designed  and  best  conducted  prisons  of 
America  and  Europe,  and  it  is  believed  that  the  result  will  represent 
the  highest  type  of  prison  that  the  science  of  criminology  has  de- 
veloped. Every  provision  for  the  keeping  of  discipline  and  health  has 
been  considered. 

The  men's  prison  consists  of  four  wings  placed  in  the  form  of  a 
cross,  of  which  the  intersection  is  the  central  guardhouse.  The  wings 
are  oriented  in  such  a  manner  that  each  side  of  each  wing  is  exposed  to 
the  sun  at  some  time  in  the  day,  and  a  free  circulation  of  air  is  assured. 
Each  wing  is  composed  of  four  tiers  of  cells,  and  each  tier  contains 
two  parallel  ranges  of  sixty-two  cells,  separated  by  a  utility  corridor. 
In  front  of  the  cells  a  gallery  five  feet  wide,  for  the  use  of  pris- 
oners, is  enclosed  in  a  burglar-proof  steel  grating,  and  outside  of  this 
is  an  open  gallery  for  the  guards. 

64 


All  the  cell  doors  are  controlled  at  one  point  at  the  head  of  each 
cell  wing,  in  such  a  manner  that  all  the  doors  or  any  one  door  or  group 
of  doors  may  be  opened  and  closed  at  will  by  a  single  guard. 

The  mess  hall  is  125  by  100  feet  under  one  roof,  without  columns 
or  other  obstructions  to  the  view  of  the  guard,  and  is  capable  of  seat- 
ing 2,000  prisoners  at  one  time. 

The  workshops  have  been  designed  upon  the  most  modern  prin- 
ciples, the  architects  having  studied  the  buildings  of  the  great  indus- 
trial plants  of  this  country.  Each  shop  is  placed  with  its  main  axis 
north  and  south,  so  as  to  secure  sunlight  and  air  at  all  times  during 
the  day.  Electric  power  will  be  supplied  to  the  shops  from  the  central 
power  plant. 

The  prison  for  women  is  similar  in  principle  to  that  for  men,  ex- 
cept that  the  chapel  will  be  placed  above  the  mess  hall.  There  will  be 
separate  hospitals  for  men  and  women. 

Biker's  Island,  by  its  location,  assures  to  the  penitentiary  the  most 
perfect  hygienic  conditions.  The  plan  of  the  prison  buildings  will 
fully  meet  the  two  essential  requirements  of  health  and  of  economic 
supervision  and  control.  The  City  of  New  York  will  have,  not  only 
the  largest,  but  the  most  perfect  institution  for  the  care  and  cure  of 
criminals. 

The  prison  will  cost  $2,250,000. 

DOCKS  AND  FERRIES. 

Before  the  close  of  the  year  1909  it  is  expected  that  the  great 
transatlantic  lines  will  move  from  their  present  piers  and  be  con- 
centrated in  the  half  mile  of  water  front  extending  south  from  West 
Twenty-third  Street  on  the  North  Biver,  and  known  as  the  Chelsea 
Section.  The  lines  which  will  be  accommodated  within  this  section 
include  the  Cunard  Steamship  Company,  the  Compagnie  Generale 

65 


Transatlantique,  together  with  the  lines  of  the  International  Mer- 
cantile Marine,  viz..  White  Star,  Red  Star,  American  and  Atlantic 
Transport  Lines.  These  rentals  will  increase  the  City's  revenue 
$560,000  a  year.  The  piers  which  these  companies  will  vacate  have 
been  leased  at  rentals  which  will  accrue  to  the  City  an  advance  of 
$93,327  per  annum  over  the  rental  now  paid.  Along  the  Chelsea 
Section  a  marginal  street  250  feet  wide  has  been  made,  and  at  the 
north  end,  at  the  foot  of  West  Twenty-third  street,  a  magnificent  wide 
approach  has  been  completed  leading  to  the  ferries  of  the  Central 
Railroad  Company  of  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  West- 
ern Railroad  Company,  the  Erie  Railroad  Company  and  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad  Company.  These  railroad  companies  have  im- 
proved the  property  leased  to  them  by  the  City  by  building  an  entire 
new  system  of  ferry  slips  and  ferry  houses,  containing  eight  slips  and 
covering  about  1,000  feet.  An  effort  was  made  to  secure  the  consent 
of  the  Secretary  of  War  to  an  extension  of  the  pierhead  line  north  of 
West  Twenty-fourth  Street,  which  would  have  made  it  possible  to  in- 
crease the  length  of  piers  to  800  feet.    This  request  was  not  granted. 

The  Brooklyn  water  front  from  Twenty-eighth  Street  to  Thirty- 
sixth  Street  has  been  bought  by  the  City,  and  plans  have  been  pre- 
pared for  eight  modern  steamship  piers  which  will  be  the  largest  in  the 
City,  the  smallest  being  about  1,200  feet  long,  and  the  longest  being 
about  1,800  feet.  (The  longest  pier  in  the  Chelsea  Section  is  825 
feet).  The  preliminary  work  of  dredging  for  these  piers  has  been 
contracted  for  and  is  now  in  progress,  and  the  channel  now  being 
dredged  to  a  depth  of  forty  feet  by  the  United  States  Government  in 
front  of  these  piers,  will  give  convenient  access  thereto  and  provide 
accommodation  for  the  largest  steamers  now  afloat  or  contemplated. 
In  addition,  422  feet  of  water  front  has  been  purchased  between 
Fifty-ninth  and  Sixty-first  Streets,  South  Brooklyn,  for  develop- 
ment for  commercial  use. 


66 


In  conjunction  with  the  Department  of  Highways,  an  exterior 
street  has  been  begun  between  Sixty-fourth  and  Eighty-first  Streets, 
East  River,  a  distance  of  4,606  feet,  of  which  812  feet  of  the  sea  w  all 
is  complete  and  in  use.  This  improvement  will  permit  the  use  of  the 
water  front  between  these  points  now  cut  off  by  the  bluffs  on  the 
banks  of  the  river,  and  outlets  will  be  provided  at  various  streets  so 
as  to  make  it  readily  accessible  for  vehicles. 

The  work  of  building  the  new  sea  wall  between  Twenty-eighth 
and  Twenty-ninth  Streets,  East  River,  and  the  filling  in  in  the  rear 
thereof  is  being  advanced  rapidly.  It  is  expected  that  in  the  Fall  of 
1909  the  entire  new  area  thus  made  will  be  turned  over  to  the  authori- 
ties for  the  extensive  improvements  contemplated  for  the  Bellevue 
and  Allied  Hospitals. 

About  8,800  feet  of  wall  has  been  built  around  the  easterty  end  of 
Riker's  Island,  forming  a  basin  within  which  the  Department  of 
Street  Cleaning  is  depositing  the  City's  refuse.  When  this  filling  is 
completed,  about  150  acres  of  made  land  belonging  to  the  City  will  be 
available  for  use. 

At  North  Brother  Island  about  1,900  feet  of  concrete  retaining 
wall  has  been  built,  in  the  rear  of  which  it  is  intended  to  deposit  filling 
in  a  manner  similar  to  that  at  Riker's  Island.  These  four  acres  of 
made  land  is  designed  for  the  use  of  the  Department  of  Health. 

A  lease  has  been  made  to  the  Central  Railroad  of  New  Jersey  of 
land  under  water  easterly  of  Third  Avenue  in  the  Borough  of  the 
Bronx  for  a  freight  terminal.  At  this  end  of  the  Harlem  River  are 
now  clustered  the  freight  yards  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
Company,  the  New  York  Central  and  Hudson  River  Railroad  Com- 
pany, the  Erie  Railroad  Company,  the  New  York,  New  Haven  and 
Hartford  Railroad  Company,  the  Lehigh  Valley  Railroad  Company 
and  the  Central  Railroad  Company  of  New  Jersey,  part  of  which  are 
iocated  upon  private  property  and  part  leased  from  the  City.  The 


67 


Department  has  recommended  that  Congress  be  asked  to  provide  a 
navigable  channel  commencing  at  a  point  about  opposite  One  Hun- 
dred and  Twenty-fifth  Street,  Harlem  River,  and  extending  along  the 
northerly  side  of  Randall's  Island.  At  the  present  time  this  passage  is 
not  navigable,  but  if  this  improvement  could  be  effected,  a  shorter 
route  will  be  furnished  to  vessels  plying  between  the  Hudson  and 
Harlem  Rivers  and  Long  Island  Sound,  and  the  probabilities  of  dis- 
aster in  the  vicinity  of  Hell  Gate  would  be  lessened  by  affording  ves- 
sels a  direct  instead  of  a  circuitous  route  around  Ward's  Island, 
where  strong  currents  are  encountered.  This  would  also  save  a 
distance  of  three  and  one-half  miles,  to  say  nothing  of  lessening  the 
congestion  at  the  freight  terminals  in  the  lower  part  of  Manhattan 
Island. 

Five  new  ferryboats  have  been  built  for  the  Staten  Island  Ferry 
service,  at  a  cost  of  $1,750,000,  the  boats  being  named  after  the  five 
Boroughs  comprising  Greater  New  York.  For  the  service  to  Thirty- 
ninth  Street,  Brooklyn,  three  ferryboats  were  constructed,  the 
"  Gowanus,"  "  Nassau  "  and  "  Bay  Ridge,"  and  plans  for  three  more 
ferryboats  to  be  used  in  the  extension  of  the  Municipal  Ferry  service 
are  being  prepared. 

The  dilapidated  ferry  structures  at  the  Manhattan  end  of  the 
old  Staten  Island  Ferry  have  been  removed  and  two  new  ferry  slips 
with  a  temporary  waiting  room  completed.  The  permanent  ferry 
house,  which  will  cost  about  $464,000,  was  begun  in  August  last.  It 
is  designed  to  form  a  part  of  a  uniform  structure  extending  from  the 
Governor's  Island  Ferry  slip  to  Broad  Street,  a  distance  of  627  feet. 
This  house  will  be  a  notable  addition  to  the  public  buildings  of  the 
City,  and  is  so  designed  as  to  provide  a  ferry  terminal  with  a  recreation 
structure  on  the  roof  for  public  use.  Three  new  ferry  slips  at  the  St. 
George  terminal,  begun  in  190,5,  were,  together  with  the  steam  rail- 
road terminal  and  the  trolley  line  platform,  finished  in  1907  at  a  cost 


6S 


of  about  $583,000.  The  new  permanent  ferry  house,  consisting  of  a 
two-story  structure  with  an  extensive  concourse  and  unloading  plat- 
form, has  been  built  at  a  cost  of  about  $600,000,  and,  in  conjunction 
with  the  President  of  the  Borough  of  Richmond,  a  road  is  being  built 
from  the  ferry  to  Jay  Street,  St.  George.  This  will  overcome  the 
grade  now  encountered  in  reaching  the  street  system  of  Staten  Island 
from  the  ferry  terminal. 

In  consequence  of  its  isolated  location,  a  comprehensive  high  pres- 
sure salt  water  fire  service,  operated  with  electric  turbine  pumps,  has 
been  installed,  affording  protection  to  the  terminal  platforms. 

At  the  foot  of  Canal  Street,  Stapleton,  a  new  ferry  slip  with  ap- 
purtenant platforms  has  been  built,  a  temporary  ferry  house  erected 
and  plans  for  a  permanent  ferry  house  prepared. 

Between  Whitehall  and  Broad  Streets — the  site  of  the  old 
Thirty-ninth  Street  Ferry — three  new  ferry  slips  have  been  built 
and  a  permanent  ferry  house,  which  will  cost  about  $648,000,  is  well 
advanced  to  completion.  At  the  Brooklyn  terminal  ferry  structures 
with  two  slips  have  been  finished.  As  a  more  expeditious  service  is 
expected  in  the  case  of  the  operation  of  ferries  by  the  City,  it  was 
found  necessary  to  place  the  structures  a  considerable  distance  out- 
shore  from  the  old  location;  and  the  scarcity  of  material  suitable  for 
filling-in  purposes,  together  with  the  failure  of  the  Brooklyn  Rapid 
Transit  Company  to  extend  its  service  outshore,  has  been  the  cause  of 
much  complaint  among  the  patrons  of  this  ferry.  Recently  the  rail- 
road company  has  been  urged  to  use  the  track  siding  on  the  north 
side  of  the  ferry  premises  so  as  to  bring  passengers  nearer  the  ferry 
house,  and  the  question  of  extending  the  tracks  on  a  loop  in  front  of 
the  new  ferry  building  when  the  filling-in  is  completed  has  been  taken 
up. 

The  receipts  of  the  Staten  Island  Ferry  under  municipal  opera- 
tion, as  compared  with  the  last  year  of  its  private  ownership,  showed 


69 


an  increase  of  24  per  cent.,  and  in  the  case  of  the  South  Brooklyn 
Ferry  an  increase  of  18  per  cent.  The  receipts  of  the  Staten  Island 
Ferry  for  1907,  as  compared  with  1906,  show  an  increase  of  $59,000, 
while  the  receipts  from  the  South  Brooklyn  Ferry  for  the  year  1907, 
as  compared  with  190G,  show  an  increase  of  $29,642.49.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  expenses  for  the  year  1908,  it  is  estimated,  will  he 
considerably  less  than  1907,  for  the  operation  and  maintenance  of 
both  ferries. 

Eight  recreation  piers,  with  music,  are  open  each  summer.  Last 
May  the  Cedar  Street  promenade  was  opened  to  the  public.  This  is 
the  first  attempt  in  this  City  to  utilize  the  roofs  of  the  sheds  along  the 
bulkheads  for  this  purpose,  and  the  experiment  has  proven  a  great 
success.  This  promenade  extends  along  the  northerly  water  front 
from  Cedar  to  Albany  Streets,  and  was  much  used  during  the  hot 
summer  nights  by  the  residents  in  the  lower  section  of  the  City. 

The  total  new  wharfage  room  made  during  the  past  five  years 
has  been  about  207,000  linear  feet,  or  about  thirty-five  miles,  increas- 
ing the  area  of  the  piers  about  three  million  square  feet,  including  the 
construction  of  fifty-one  piers  and  twenty-one  new  platforms,  and  the 
building  of  extensions  for  thirty  piers. 

Many  improvements  in  the  method  of  construction  for  the  pro- 
tection of  water  front  structures  against  fire  have  been  adopted.  Re- 
enforced  concrete  decks  on  piers  replace  wooden  decks;  manholes  in 
the  piers  admit  firemen  beneath  piers  and  platform  structures,  and 
a  sprinkler  system  is  placed  under  the  decks  of  the  piers  so  that  the 
under  structure  can  be  drenched  with  water  in  less  than  one  minute 
after  connections  are  made  either  by  fire  boats  alongside  the  pier  or 
by  engines  at  the  land  end. 


70 


DEPARTMENT  OF  STREET  CLEANING. 

The  generally  accepted  view  that  the  expenses  of  a  department 
should  not  increase  at  a  greater  rate  than  the  population  of  the  city, 
cannot  fairly  be  applied  to  this  Department.  The  expansion  of  the 
work  since  1904  has  been  in  two  directions;  first,  in  providing  for  the 
needs  of  a  greater  number  of  people,  and  second,  in  meeting  the  re- 
quirements of  a  great  deal  of  additional  territory  and  a  much  greater 
street  length.  The  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Street  Cleaning 
shows  clearly  that  the  different  items  of  work,  taken  collectively,  have 
increased  at  a  much  greater  rate  than  the  population. 

Under  the  head  of  additional  work  I  call  your  attention  to  the 
cleaning  of  paved  streets  of  Manhattan,  formerly  cleaned  by  the  De- 
partment of  Parks,  and  some  eighty-seven  miles  of  macadamized 
streets  in  Brooklyn,  formerly  under  the  control  of  the  Borough  Ad- 
ministration. These,  and  many  similar  items,  show  that  the  increase 
of  expense  in  this  Department  does  not  depend  alone  on  the  increase 
in  population. 

On  January  1,  1904,  the  Department  had  under  its  care  971.1 
miles  of  streets.  During  the  year  this  mileage  was  increased  to 
998.7.  To-day  the  mileage  of  streets  to  be  cleaned  is  1,216,  an  in- 
crease of  25  per  cent.  In  1904  the  amount  of  material  collected  was 
5,945,390  cubic  yards.  The  amount  of  material  collected  during  1908 
was  approximately  7,578,814  cubic  yards,  an  increase  of  27.5  per 
cent.  The  total  expense  of  the  Department,  working  accounts  only, 
in  1904,  was  $5,441,917.66.  Including  snow  and  ice  removal 
the  expense  was  $7,231,933.74.  In  1908  the  expense,  working  ac- 
counts only,  was  $6,912,856.19.  The  total  expense,  including  snow, 
ice  and  new  equipment,  was  $7,536,948.69.  The  cost  per  capita,  based 
on  the  expenses  of  Department  work,  was  $1,495  in  1904.  and  is  es- 
timated at  $1,677  for  1908.  The  cost  per  capita  on  total  expense  has. 
however,  dropped  from  $1,987,  in  1904.  to  $1,832  in  1908. 

n 


The  cost  of  snow  removal  fluctuates,  of  course,  from  year  to  year. 
The  "  area  "  system,  which  had  been  in  use  since  1902,  was  discon- 
tinued last  year,  and  a  system  of  actual  measurement  substituted.  The 
result  was  a  very  considerable  saving  to  the  City.  The  difference  in 
expense  as  compared  to  1907.  was  close  to  $2,000,000,  part  of  which 
was,  of  course,  due  to  the  fact  that  less  snow  fell.  It  is  estimated, 
however,  that  had  the  quantity  been  the  same  as  in  1907,  the  net  sav- 
ing would  have  been  a  trifle  over  $1,250,000.  During  1903-1904  the 
length  of  street  from  which  snow  and  ice  were  removed  was  241  miles. 
In  1907-1908  the  snow  schedule  was  increased  to  470.624  miles  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  recommendation  of  the  Special  Commission  I  ap- 
pointed to  investigate  the  subject. 

Notwithstanding  the  increased  work  done  by  the  Department, 
there  is  a  constant  public  demand  for  continued  extension  of  the  serv- 
ice. While  collectively,  civic  bodies  criticise  the  expense  of  street 
cleaning,  individually  they  make  demands  which,  if  complied  with, 
would  call  for  a  far  greater  expenditure. 

Riker's  Island. 

During  the  past  five  years  a  very  considerable  addition  has  been 
made  to  the  area  of  Hiker's  Island,  by  utilizing  the  ash  collections  to 
as  great  an  extent  as  possible.  The  original  acreage  of  the  island, 
when  acquired  by  the  City,  was  89 ;  to  this  63  acres  have  been  added, 
and  144  additional  acres  are  to  be  made  in  this  manner.  The  total 
future  area  of  the  island  will  be  295  acres,  much  of  which  will  be  used 
in  connection  with  the  new  penitentiary. 


72 


POLICE  ADMINISTRATION. 

A  comparison  of  arrests  and  convictions  by  the  police  attached 
to  the  detective  bureau  during  the  first  nine  months  of  1907  and 
1908  indicates  that  much  better  results  are  obtained  since  the  reorgani- 
zation of  the  bureau.  The  number  of  arrests  increased  from  7,927  to 
12,704  and  the  convictions  increased  from  1,422  to  4,516,  showing 
35  per  cent,  of  convictions  in  1908  as  against  18  per  cent,  in  1907. 

In  the  same  period  the  fines  increased  from  $4,201  to  $21,418, 
the  total  years'  sentences  from  1,822  to  4,559,  and  the  amount  of 
property  recovered  from  $185,342  to  $420,959. 

Branches  of  the  bureau  have  been  established  in  various  parts  of 
the  city,  adding  greatly  to  the  efficiency  of  detective  work. 

The  five -platoon  system  gives  excellent  results.  It  serves  the 
public  better  than  the  three -platoon  system  and  the  men  prefer  it  to 
the  two -platoon  system. 

At  headquarters  important  reforms  have  been  accomplished  in 
the  way  of  reorganizing  the  detective  bureau,  the  telegraph  bureau 
and  the  bureau  of  repairs  and  supplies,  and  in  systematizing  the  de- 
partment records.  The  Book  of  Rules,  upon  which  all  police  work 
is  founded,  has  been  rearranged  and  entirely  rewritten.  The  docket 
of  charges  against  policemen  has  been  cleared.  Some  of  the  cases 
were  eight  years  old.  An  investigation  of  the  special  patrolmen 
permitted  by  the  Charter  has  resulted  in  the  dismissal  of  many  un- 
desirable men  and  applications  are  now  granted  under  more  rigid 
rules. 

This  year  there  will  be  one  member  of  the  active  police  force  to 
each  434  inhabitants,  at  a  cost  of  $3.26  per  head  of  population.  The 
average  cost  per  head  of  population  for  the  four  years  beginning 
January  1,  1906,  is  $3.20,  but  in  1906  and  1907  there  was  but  one 
member  of  the  active  force  for  each  456  inhabitants.  The  cost  per 
head  of  population  for  the  active  police  available  to  patrol  lias  been 

73 


reduced  to  $3.12,  as  compared  with  $3.15  in  1906,  $3.10  in  1907,  and 
$3.23  in  1908.  There  are  1,814  men  and  1,232  women  and  children  on 
the  pension  roll  and  the  average  yearly  cost  of  these  to  the  City  is 
$515.28  each,  or  36  cents  per  head  of  population  for  all. 

The  present  Police  Commissioner  has  reduced  from  2,000  to  1,200 
the  number  of  men  detailed  away  from  regular  police  duty.  The 
abolition  of  the  details  which  still  remain  would  strengthen  the  depart- 
ment in  the  line  of  more  active  police  duty  but  would,  of  course,  add 
to  the  expense  of  other  departments  where  police  details  have  been 
used  for  many  years.  Civilian  employees  should  be  substituted  wher- 
ever they  will  be  of  equal  use  and  whenever  economic  arrangements 
will  permit  of  it. 

In  five  years  the  department  has  been  increased  by  four  chaplains, 
two  surgeons,  three  inspectors,  four  captains,  seventy-five  sergeants 
(formerly  roundsmen),  1,207  patrolmen  and  five  doormen.  Legis- 
lation was  obtained  giving  to  the  Commissioner  more  disciplinary 
authority  over  police  inspectors. 

The  new  headquarters  building  at  Grand  and  Centre  streets  is 
nearly  finished  and  will  be  occupied  this  year.  The  West  Thirtieth 
street  station,  which  is  considered  the  best  type  of  police  station  in  the 
United  States,  is  in  use  and  plans  have  been  made  for  four  other  new 
stations. 

The  records  of  men  eligible  for  appointment  to  the  force  are 
carefully  examined.  A  new  system  of  instruction  for  recruits  is  nearly 
ready  for  use. 

REGULATION  OF  TRAFFIC. 
Five  years  of  effort  have  brought  the  regulation  of  traffic  from  the 
experimental  stage  to  a  condition  which  calls  for  little  improvement. 
In  this  important  branch  of  police  work  New  York  has  now  surpassed 
the  foreign  cities  which  had  been  considered  the  leaders.  It  adds  to 
the  credit  of  the  various  men  who  have  bettered  the  system  when  it  is  re- 

74 


M 


-J  i ' 


111 

WKST    THIRTIETH    STREET    POLICE  STATION, 
Considered  the  best  type  of  station  -  house  in  this  country. 
R  Thomas  Short,  Architect 


membered  that  New  York's  topography  makes  its  traffic  regulation  a 
very  difficult  problem.  But  the  problem  has  been  solved,  with  the 
resultant  saving  of  many  lives  and  much  money. 

On  January  1,  1904,  the  entire  force  engaged  in  the  regulation 
of  traffic  consisted  of  118  men,  composed  of  1  captain,  1  lieutenant,  5 
sergeants  and  111  patrolmen.  One  sergeant  was  mounted,  and  of  the 
patrolmen,  5  were  mounted  and  2  assigned  to  bicycle  duty. 

On  August  1,  1904,  the  then  Police  Commissioner  established  the 
street  traffic  regulation  bureau,  with  headquarters  at  City  Hall  and 
two  sub-stations,  one  at  Xo.  1  East  Twenty-seventh  Street  and  the 
other  at  Borough  Hall,  Brooklyn.  He  increased  the  traffic  force  to 
246  men,  85  of  whom  were  mounted.  Of  these,  16  mounted  men  and 
20  foot  men,  including  officers,  were  assigned  to  Brooklyn.  A  force 
of  663  men  is  now  assigned  to  traffic  duty.  Of  this  number,  502  are 
on  foot,  140  are  mounted,  and  21  are  on  bicycles.  These  men  are  in 
charge  of  1  inspector,  1  captain,  28  lieutenants  and  24  sergeants.  The 
entire  squad  is  known  as  the  Fourteenth  Inspection  District,  and  is  di- 
vided into  four  precincts. 

Traffic  regulations  are  now  in  force  until  midnight  at  Herald 
Square,  Times  Square,  Columbus  Circle  and  at  the  intersection  of 
Seventy-second  Street,  Broadway  and  Amsterdam  Avenue,  where 
formerly  the  regulation  of  traffic  ceased  at  6.30  p.  m.  The  importance 
of  the  regulation  of  traffic  at  these  congested  points  at  night  is  clearly 
shown  by  the  number  of  requests  for  similar  regulation  which  the  De- 
partment receives  from  congested  points  further  north.  When  the 
necessary  men  to  cover  these  other  congested  points,  instance  One 
Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  Street  and  Eighth  Avenue,  can  be  spared 
for  traffic  duty  the  regulation  will  be  extended  uptown. 

In  the  hotel  and  theatre  district  north  of  Twenty-third  Street  and 
at  points  such  as  the  Grand  Central  Station,  many  traffic  posts  are 
now  covered  until  9  p.  m. 


75 


\\  IDEXIXG  OF  FIFTH  AVENUE. 

The  process  of  widening  Fifth  Avenue,  an  improvement  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  relieve  congestion,  has  been  slow,  not  because  of 
legal  or  engineering  phases,  but  because  the  administration  has  con- 
sidered it  only  fair  to  give  to  the  property  owners  and  tenants  of  the 
avenue  every  reasonable  opportunity  to  prepare  for  what  may  be,  to 
some  of  them,  a  radical  change.  The  avenue  has  been  widened  fifteen 
feet  between  Fortieth  and  Forty-second  Street,  and  the  relief  to  traffic 
is  so  evident  that  steps  should  be  taken  this  year  to  widen  the  roadway 
from  Twenty-sixth  Street  as  far  north  as  the  present  congestion  exists. 

I  believe  that  a  further  great  improvement  for  the  relief  of  traffic 
would  be  a  depression  of  the  roadway  of  Forty-second  Street  at  Fifth 
Avenue,  so  as  to  carry  east  and  west-bound  street  cars  and  other 
traffic  under  the  Avenue  at  this  point.  This,  as  I  pointed  out  a  year 
ago,  would  leave  north  and  south  traffic  practically  unimpeded,  an  ad- 
vantage which  must  be  apparent  to  all  familiar  with  conditions  at  the 
intersection  of  the  two  great  streets. 

SUPERVISION  OF  TAXIMETERS. 

I  respectfully  suggest  to  your  honorable  body  the  adoption  of  an 
ordinance  requiring  taximeters  to  be  tested  by  the  City.  Within  a 
year  it  has  become  evident  that  the  taximeter,  with  its  supposedlv 
exact  measurement  of  distance  and  time,  is  a  popular  appendix  of 
public  vehicles.  It  is,  however,  as  subject  to  error  as  an}^  other  me- 
chanical device  and  should  be  inspected  as  are  weights  and  measures. 

A  system  of  test  is  used  in  some  European  cities  and  it  seems  time 
that  New  York  adopted  means  to  protect  users  of  cabs  from  over- 
charge through  design  or  accident. 


76 


AUTOMOBILES. 

I  beg  to  call  the  attention  of  }T>ur  honorable  body  to  the  following 
extract  from  my  message  of  last  year: 

"  There  is  no  general  ordinance  in  existence  at  the  present  time 
which  specifically  applies  to  the  licensing  of  public  automobiles.  Under 
an  order  of  the  Supreme  Court  the  Bureau  of  Licenses  is  now  issuing 
licenses  to  such  vehicles  under  the  general  ordinance  relating  to  public 
hacks  and  cabs.  This  ordinance,  however,  was  never  intended,  in  my 
opinion,  to  apply  to  automobiles,  and  fails  to  regulate  their  charges 
in  proper  fashion.  I  recommend,  therefore,  the  adoption  of  an  ordi- 
nance which  will  apply  directly  to  these  vehicles.  At  the  same  time, 
I  believe  that  some  provision  should  be  made  for  licensing  all  sight- 
seeing automobiles,  which,  at  present,  pay  no  fee  whatsoever  to  the 
City. 

"  In  this  connection,  I  also  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  the 
necessity  of  preventing  the  use  of  sirens  upon  all  automobiles  other 
than  those  of  the  Fire  Department  within  the  City  limits.  The  siren 
has  been  adopted  as  the  particular  signal  of  the  approach  of  the  ap- 
paratus and  officials  of  the  Fire  Department,  and  its  indiscriminate 
use  by  others  results  in  confusion  of  traffic,  which  necessarily  detracts 
from  the  value  of  such  signal  to  the  Fire  Department.  I  have  caused 
such  an  ordinance  to  be  prepared  for  introduction  in  your  Board,  and 
trust  that  it  will  receive  your  favorable  consideration. 

"  I  think  it  also  most  important  that  the  following  regulations 
should  be  adopted  in  regard  to  the  use  of  all  automobiles,  both  public 
and  private,  within  the  City: 

"  First — That  all  automobiles  should  be  equipped  with  adequate 
mufflers,  which  never  should  be  cut  out  within  the  limits  of  the  built-up 
portions  of  the  City. 

"  Second — That,  except  for  the  first  ten  seconds  after  starting 
the  engines  of  an  automobile,  no  smoke  should  be  allowed  to  come  out 


77 


of  the  exhaust  pipe.  It  is  wholly  unnecessary  and  is  simply  an  evi- 
dence of  carelessness  and  incompetence. 

"  Third — That  the  use  of  acetylene  headlights  within  the  built-up 
portions  of  the  City  should  be  prohibited.  The  use  of  these  lights  is 
very  dangerous  and  has  resulted  in  causing  many  accidents  by  dazzling 
pedestrians  and  drivers  of  vehicles  coming  in  the  opposite  direction. 
These  lights  are  unnecessary  on  the  City  street,  and  I  understand  that 
responsible  drivers,  of  their  own  volition,  refuse  to  use  them." 

BUREAU  OF  WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES. 
This  bureau  was  established  as  a  branch  of  the  Mayor's  office  in 
1904.    Active  operations  were  begun  in  January,  1905,  since  which 
time  153,546  places  have  been  visited  for  purposes  of  inspection.  The 


following  table  summarizes  the  work  done: 

Number  of  instruments  tested   1,100,133 

Number  of  instruments  condemned   9,983 

Number  of  complaints  lodged  against  users  of  incorrect 

instruments  by  inspection  staff   8,853 

Aggregate  amount  of  penalties  involved  in  the  above 

number  of  violations   $202,260 


The  Bureau  undertook  to  stop  the  sale  of  short  weight  coal  loads 
and  the  weighing  of  ice  by  fraudulent  scales  in  the  year  1906.  Prior 
to  this  no  such  step  had  ever  been  taken.  There  was  bitter  opposition 
to  this  work,  but  the  action  of  the  bureau  was  fully  sustained  by  the 
courts. 

Summary  of  Coal  Re-weighing. 

Number  of  loads  re-weighed   1,890 

Number  of  tons  contained  therein   3,017 

Number  of  loads  found  short   250 

The  worst  fraud  detected  in  this  inspection  was  an  attempted 
delivery  of  a  load  2,320  pounds  short  on  four  tons. 


78 


The  efforts  of  the  bureau  to  stamp  out  the  practice  of  selling 
short  weight  ice  has  resulted  in  the  condemnation  of  about  500  fraudu- 
lent scales. 

In  addition  to  the  routine  inspection  in  stores,  the  large  scales  of 
the  different  Federal  and  City  departments  have  been  tested.  These 
tests,  many  of  which  proved  the  scales  to  be  incorrect,  insure  the  de- 
partments against  short  weight.  I  call  your  attention  to  the  amend- 
ments to  the  ordinance  creating  this  bureau,  which  have  been  presented 
to  you,  and  which  should  be,  in  my  opinion,  adopted  at  once.  The 
present  ordinance  is  inadequate,  as  it  fails  to  properly  safeguard  pur- 
chasers of  package  goods  from  short  weight  or  measure.  The  adop- 
tion of  the  amendments  now  in  your  hands  will  provide  more  pro- 
tection to  the  purchasing  public. 

CONTROL  OF  EMPLOYMENT  AGENCIES. 

The  office  of  the  Commissioner  of  Licenses  has  grown  in  import- 
ance since  its  establishment  nearly  five  years  ago.  It  supervises  not 
only  intelligence  offices  for  domestic  servants,  but  labor  agencies,  ship- 
ping agencies,  stenographers'  bureaus,  agencies  for  supplying  techni- 
cal and  clerical  positions,  theatrical  agencies  and  nurses'  registries. 

Many  of  these  agencies  were  not  regulated,  not  even  supervised, 
prior  to  the  creation  of  this  office.  The  supervision  exercised  over  do- 
mestic servants'  agencies,  especially  those  on  the  East  Side  of  Man- 
hattan, was  extremely  lax,  with  the  result  that  the  extortion  practised 
drew  forth  many  complaints  from  the  public.  Immorality  flourished 
among  agencies  whose  principal  business  was  to  furnish  employment 
to  immigrant  girls. 

The  extortion  and  immorality  complained  of  have  been  practically 
eliminated  as  a  result  of  the  strict  system  of  inspection  and  regulation 
to  which  employment  agencies  are  now  subject.  The  office  of  the 
Commissioner  of  Licenses  was  not  established  primarily  to  collect 

79 


revenue  by  means  of  license  fees,  yet  the  income  from  licenses  has 
been  increased  by  80  per  cent,  a  year  since  the  office  was  created.  The 
annual  revenue  is  now  about  $20,000  from  800  licensed  employment 
agencies.   Heretofore  many  agencies  were  conducted  without  licenses. 

Revocation  of  licenses  is  the  remedy  lodged  with  the  Commis- 
sioner to  ensure  compliance  with  the  law.  But  inasmuch  as  the  revo- 
cation of  a  license  means  the  destruction  of  an  agent's  business,  the 
Commissioner  is  loath  to  exercise  this  power,  unless  the  offense  is 
flagrant  and  the  punishment  is  found,  after  careful  investigation  and 
a  legally  conducted  trial,  to  be  well  merited.  The  number  of  licenses 
revoked  since  1904  is  103,  of  which  21  were  for  immoral  practices  and 
82  for  extortion  and  other  violations. 

Peonage,  in  so  far  as  labor  agents  in  Xew  York  City  are  re- 
sponsible, has  been  generally  eliminated,  and  the  fact  that  complaints 
regarding  it  from  various  parts  of  the  country  have  been  greatly  re- 
duced is  in  large  measure  due  to  the  strict  supervision  of  the  contract 
labor  agencies  here.  The  evils  of  the  padrone  system,  so  extensive  a 
few  years  ago,  have  been  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

The  law  governing  the  various  kinds  of  employment  agencies  is 
comprehensive.  By  a  system  of  intelligent  enforcement  of  this  law 
the  evils  connected  with  the  agency  business  have  been  abolished,  and 
thousands  of  persons  whose  sole  means  of  obtaining  employment  is 
through  these  agencies  are  now  afforded  all  reasonable  protection. 
The  office  investigates  nearly  2,000  complaints  a  year. 

TENEMENT  HOUSE  CONDITIONS. 
From  the  organization  of  the  Department  in  January,  1902,  to 
the  beginning  of  the  present  administration,  January  1,  1904,  plans 
were  filed  for  the  erection  of  1,924  tenements,  containing  24,115  apart- 
ments, to  accommodate  about  108,000  persons.  From  January  1, 
1904,  to  January  1,  1908,  plans  were  filed  for  17,836  new  tenements, 


80 


containing  221,801  apartments,  or  accommodations  for  over  930. ()()() 
people.  This  means  that  during  the  four  years  in  question  nearly  one 
million  persons,  or  one-quarter  of  the  present  population  of  the  greater 
city,  were  provided  with  the  higher  type  of  housing  in  respect  to  light, 
ventilation  and  general  sanitary  condition,  required  by  the  present  law, 
and  that  the  fear  that  the  law  would  restrict  the  activity  of  builders, 
and  limit  the  supply  of  housing  required  by  the  city's  growth,  is  ef- 
fectually disposed  of. 

During  the  above  four  years  a  great  expansion  of  building  opera- 
tions was  noted,  which  came  to  a  maximum  in  190.5,  and  has  since 
shown  a  gradual  decline.  During  1908  the  decline  has  been  marked, 
so  that  up  to  November  30,  plans  have  been  filed  for  only  1,725  new 
buildings,  containing  18,950  apartments,  or  accommodations  for  about 
85,000  persons. 

An  important  phase  of  the  Department's  work  is  the  structural 
alteration  of  the  80,000  or  more  tenements  already  in  existence  when 
the  law  went  into  operation,  to  give  them  in  some  measure  a  share  in 
the  benefits  of  the  better  lighting,  ventilation  and  sanitation  required 
for  new  buildings. 

In  1902  there  were  more  than  9,000  school  sinks,  privy  vaults  and 
latrines  found  in  an  incomplete  canvass  of  the  City.  The  efforts  of 
the  Department  to  remove  these  were  delayed  by  litigation  until  1906, 
but  between  January  1,  1904,  and  January  1,  1908,  3,258  school  sinks 
alone  were  removed  and  replaced  by  sanitary  closets,  one  for  every 
two  families  in  each  house  affected.  During  the  present  year  to  No- 
vember 30,  1908,  -100  of  these  appliances  have  been  removed  and  the 
work  of  removal  is  expected  to  go  on  with  increased  activity  during 
the  ensuing  year,  by  the  aid  of  increased  appropriations  granted  for 
that  purpose. 

Among  the  other  structural  changes  of  the  four  years  arc  the  pro- 
vision of  42,602  new  fire  escape  balconies,  the  provision  of  4.930  sky- 

81 


lights  and  the  cutting  of  windows  in  24,543  dark  interior  rooms. 
During  the  present  year  to  November  30,  5,941  tire  escape  balconies 
have  been  provided  and  2,070  skylights,  while  12,401  windows  have 
been  cut  in  dark  rooms. 

The  Department  is  also  responsible  for  the  sanitary  condition  of 
tenements.  It  receives  from  40,000  to  50,000  complaints  each  year, 
mostly  with  regard  to  these  conditions.  About  one-half  of  these  are 
found  to  require  the  issuing  of  violations,  and  the  fact  that  the  number 
of  complaints  decreases  year  by  year,  indicates  a  general  improvement 
in  conditions.  Beside  action  on  complaints,  the  Department  makes  a 
periodic  inspection  of  the  lower  rental  grades  of  tenements.  With 
the  appropriation  hitherto  available,  it  has  been  possible  to  cover  the 
ground  completely  once  a  year.  During  the  coming  year  it  is  planned 
to  make  two  complete  sanitary  inspections  of  the  city. 

METROPOLITAN  SEWERAGE  COMMISSION. 

This  Commission  was  appointed  by  me  under  authority  given 
by  the  Laws  of  1906,  to  succeed  the  New  York  Bay  Pollution  Com- 
mission, which  had  gone  out  of  existence.  Up  to  January  last,  it  had 
accomplished  practically  nothing,  owing  to  internal  dissensions.  I 
then  reorganized  the  Commission,  since  which  time  it  has  worked  har- 
moniously and  with  excellent  results.  The  work  so  far  done  has  been 
chiefly  of  an  investigating  character,  and  can  only  be  considered  as 
preliminary  to  a  more  final  and  creative  work.  Nevertheless,  two 
general  principles  have  been  established  as  guides  to  the  disposition 
of  sewage  in  the  Metropolitan  District. 

First,  it  is  considered  unwise  to  permit  sewage  in  large  quan- 
tities and  unpurified  condition  to  be  brought  from  municipalities  not 
contiguous  to  our  harbor,  for  disposal.  The  members  of  the  Com- 
mission have  appeared  before  the  Commissioner  of  Health  of  the 
State  of  New  York  and  the  State  Engineer  and  Surveyor,  in  opposi- 

82 


tion  to  the  Bronx  Valley  Sewer  project.  This  plan  contemplates 
carrying  the  sewage  of  White  Plains,  and  other  inland  communities, 
to  the  Hudson  River,  and  naturally  from  there  into  our  harbor. 

The  Commission  also  appeared  in  opposition  to  the  Passaic 
Valley  project,  which  contemplates  the  discharge  of  the  sewage  of 
Paterson  and  about  twenty  other  municipalities  in  the  State  of  New 
Jersey,  into  the  upper  bay. 

The  second  principle  established  is  that  the  policy  of  the  City  of 
Xew  York  to  build  sewers  to  carry  both  household  sewage  and  streel 
drainage  should  be  modified,  and  wherever  circumstances  permit 
separate  sewers  be  built. 

In  both  of  these  matters  the  Commission  has  the  hearty  support 
of  the  present  administration.  In  pursuance  of  its  work,  the  Com- 
mission has  established  a  laboratory  and  made  many  analyses  of  the 
solid  matter  deposited  from  the  waters  upon  the  bottom  of  Xew  York 
Harbor.  The  object  of  these  analyses  is  to  obtain  an  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  the  conditions  of  the  water  so  as  to  determine  to  what  extent 
the  sewage  produces  injurious  conditions,  and  to  what  extent  and 
under  what  circumstances,  it  may  be  discharged  in  these  waters  with- 
out injury  to  the  public  health.  A  report  dealing  with  this  subject 
is,  I  am  informed,  shortly  to  be  made  by  the  Commission. 

With  the  assistance  of  the  United  States  Coast  and  Geodetic 
Survey,  an  exhaustive  study  is  being  made  of  the  tidal  phenomena  of 
Xew  York  Harbor,  with  special  reference  to  the  effect  of  the  currents 
in  transporting  and  disposing  of  sewage,  and  systematic  inspections 
have  been  made  to  determine  the  condition  of  pollution  along  the  ex- 
tensive water-front  of  the  City  and  its  neighboring  municipalities. 


83 


COMMISSIONERS  OF  ACCOUNTS. 
With  its  legal  powers  of  audit  and  investigation,  the  office  of  the 
Commissioners  of  Accounts  has  possibilities  not  possessed  by  any  other 
branch  of  the  City  Government.  During  the  past  two  years  the 
powers  of  the  Commissioners  have  been  extensively  used  and  have 
proved  an  important  factor  in  the  support  of  efficient  administration. 

In  spite  of  its  powers,  the  work  of  the  Commission  had  dropped 
to  a  point,  two  years  ago,  where  it  amounted  to  little  more  than  the 
perfunctory  checking  up  of  department  accounts.  Its  potential  power 
and  utility  were  first  brought  prominently  to  notice  in  connection  with 
an  investigation  of  the  office  of  the  President  of  the  Borough  of  Man- 
hattan, which  was  ordered  by  me  in  December,  1906,  on  the  written  re- 
quest of  the  Borough  President,  and  as  a  result  of  certain  charges 
preferred  by  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research.  The  powers  of  the 
Commission  were  disputed  in  this  instance,  and  the  matter  carried  to 
the  Court  of  Appeals,  where  the  contentions  of  the  Commission  were 
fully  established. 

As  the  result  of  this  investigation  I  determined  to  use  the  Com- 
missioners of  Accounts  more  extensively  in  the  work  of  investigating 
departmental  and  divisional  activities  and  this  plan  has  been  adhered 
to.  To  facilitate  the  work  there  has  been  a  complete  reorganization 
of  the  office  under  Commissioners  Mitchell  and  Gallaher.  The  ef- 
ficiency of  the  office  under  this  reorganization  is  best  shown  by  the  re- 
sult of  the  recent  investigation  of  the  Bureau  of  Licenses. 

Apart  from  the  mandatory  audits  of  the  various  revenue  receiv- 
ing departments  of  the  City,  the  Commissioners  have  been  and  are 
now  largely  engaged  in  conducting  special  investigations.  It  was 
with  these  special  investigations  in  view  that  authority  was  given  to 
the  Commissioners  by  the  Charter  to  subpoena  witnesses,  examine 
them  under  oath,  and  to  have  produced  as  evidence  the  books  and 
papers  of  persons  dealing  with  the  City.    Further  to  aid  them  in  these 

84 


investigations,  an  Engineering  Bureau  was  added  to  their  staff,  en- 
abling them  to  deal  with  the  technical  questions  arising  in  every 
thorough  examination  of  a  City  Department. 

The  following  are  among  the  special  investigations  which  have 
been  conducted  in  the  last  two  years  or  are  now  under  way : 

Office  of  the  President  of  the  Borough  of  Manhattan, 

Office  of  the  President  of  the  Borough  of  The  Bronx, 

Office  of  the  President  of  the  Borough  of  Brooklyn, 

Office  of  the  President  of  the  Borough  of  Queens, 

Board  of  Water  Supply, 

Fire  Department, 

Bureau  of  Licenses, 

Bureau  of  Street  Openings, 

Department  of  Parks,  Bronx, 

Department  of  Street  Cleaning, 

Bellevue  and  Allied  Hospitals, 

Department  of  Correction, 

The  Night  Court, 

Department  of  Finance,  Bureau  of  Real  Estate. 

It  is  proposed  this  year  to  complete  the  investigations  of  the  of- 
fices of  the  Borough  Presidents,  and  to  take  up  one  after  another  the 
large  City  Departments.  Such  periodic  examinations,  if  systematic- 
ally and  thoroughly  handled,  will  not  only  serve  to  check  incompetence 
and  corruption,  if  such  exist,  but  will  make  possible  the  introduction 
of  methods  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  the  evils  that  are  disclosed. 
Furthermore,  they  will  be  of  incalculable  value  as  a  means  of  effective 
executive  control. 


85 


REORGANIZATION  OF  ACCOUNTING  METHODS. 

I  regard  the  work  undertaken  by  the  Comptroller  during  the  past 
year,  with  respect  to  the  reorganization  of  the  accounts  of  the  several 
departments  and  the  simplification  and  improvement  of  the  methods 
of  the  Department  of  Finance,  as  of  the  greatest  importance.  The 
necessity  for  complete  revision  of  the  accounting  methods  of  the  City 
was  made  clear  in  the  report  of  the  Commission  appointed  by  me  in 
1904.  Until  last  year,  however,  little  or  nothing  was  done  in  this  di- 
rection. The  Comptroller  lacked  a  sufficient  staff  to  undertake  the 
work,  but  last  year  a  Bureau  of  Expert  Accountants  was  established 
and  the  work  of  reorganization  is  now  being  prosecuted  vigorously. 

In  this  work  the  Comptroller  has  had  the  assistance  of  Mr. 
Bruere,  of  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  to  whom  much  of  what 
has  been  accomplished  is  due.  The  service  of  Mr.  Bruere  and  the 
Bureau  in  this  purely  municipal  work  marks  a  new  departure  in  City 
government,  the  active  co-operation  of  the  public  with  the  City  ad- 
ministration. 

The  plan  of  accounting  reorganization  adopted  will  effect  not 
only  uniformity  in  accounting  methods  in  every  branch  of  the  City 
government  and  establish  central  financial  control  over  receipts  and 
disbursements,  but  will  provide  information  essential  to  the  economi- 
cal and  efficient  administration  of  departmental  business.  Already, 
a  complete  installation  has  been  made  in  the  Departments  of  Health, 
Street  Cleaning  and  Bellevue  and  Allied  Hospitals. 

Included  in  this  plan  of  reorganization  is  a  method  for  con- 
trolling the  stores  of  the  various  departments  through  the  installa- 
tion of  a  double  entry  system  of  accounts.  The  prime  purpose  of  the 
new  system  is  to  secure  complete  and  accurate  control  over  the  integrity 
and  accuracy  of  departmental  records.  When  this  is  done  it  will  be 
possible  to  determine,  for  the  first  time,  the  exact  expense  of  conduct- 
ing each  of  the  activities  of  any  Department.    As  a  means  to  secur- 


86 


ing  an  intelligent  and  accurate  Budget,  no  more  important  step  has 
been  taken.  By  the  development  of  an  exact  record  of  expense  it 
will  be  possible  to  estimate  with  close  precision  the  probable  necessary 
expenditures  of  the  succeeding  year,  and  when  this  is  fully  accom- 
plished, a  greatly  increased  economy  in  the  conduct  of  departmental 
business  should  be  possible. 

Every  department  of  the  City  Government  should  maintain  the 
most  careful  supervision  of  its  stores,  and  receive  and  disburse  no 
goods  without  making  a  record  thereof.  As  a  first  step  in  establish- 
ing accurate  store  records,  every  department  head  has  been  directed 
to  take  a  physical  inventory  of  all  goods  in  stores  on  hand  on  January 
1.  It  is  clearly  to  be  desired,  from  a  business  standpoint,  that  all 
property  in  the  custody  of  the  departments  shall  be  scrupulously  ac- 
counted for. 

As  a  means  of  carrying  into  effect  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the 
resolution  relating  to  the  schedules  of  positions  and  salaries  accom- 
panying the  Budget  for  1909,  the  Comptroller  has  undertaken  the  es- 
tablishment of  accurate  time  records  in  the  departments  with  respect 
to  employees  paid  on  weekly  rolls.  These  time  records  will  provide 
a  basis  for  the  audit  of  payrolls  which  has  hitherto  been  lacking.  I 
have  directed  every  Department  responsible  to  me,  as  Mayor,  to  main- 
tain the  time  records  prescribed  by  the  Comptroller.  I  believe  that 
the  information  thus  produced  will  show  many  opportunities  for 
economy. 

CONDEMNATION  OF  LAND  FOR  CITY  PURPOSES. 
The  existing  method  of  condemning  land  is  and  has  been  for  a 
long  time  considered  by  all  those  who  are  at  all  conversant  with  the 
subject  as  indescribably  faulty,  inefficient  and  objectionable.  The  dif- 
ficulty in  suggesting  a  remedy  is  largely  constitutional.  'Flic  con- 
stitution of  the  State  of  New  York,  provides.  Article  I.,  section  7  : 

87 


"  When  private  property  shall  be  taken  for  any  public 
use,  the  compensation  to  be  made  therefor,  when  such  com- 
pensation is  not  made  by  the  state,  shall  be  ascertained  by  a 
jury,  or  by  not  less  than  three  commissioners  appointed  by  a 
court  of  record,  as  shall  be  prescribed  by  law." 

The  difficulties  in  trying  such  cases  before  the  ordinary  jury  of 
twelve,  have  been  looked  upon  as  so  manifest  that  the  universal  prac- 
tice has  been  to  resort  to  the  other  method  of  procedure,  by  Commis- 
sioners appointed  by  the  Courts.  This  method  has  proved  most  in- 
efficient in  practice,  the  two  principal  grounds  of  objection  to  this  pro- 
ceeding being,  first,  as  to  the  amount  of  the  awards;  and  second,  as 
to  the  great  delay  and  tremendous  expenses  involved  most  unjust  both 
to  the  property  owners  and  the  public. 

Under  the  prevailing  system  the  Commissioners,  being  quasi  ju- 
dicial officers,  have  control  of  their  own  proceedings,  can  sit  as  often 
or  as  seldom  as  they  see  fit,  and  grant  adjournments  whenever  they 
deem  proper.  The  length  of  time  required  for  any  proceeding  rests, 
therefore,  with  them  and  is  not  within  the  control  of  the  Corporation 
Counsel,  who  only  acts  as  counsel  for  one  of  the  parties  in  interest. 
The  Commissioners  are  often  not  only  unfamiliar  with  real  estate 
values,  but  also  unversed  in  the  rules  of  evidence  as  to  measure  of 
values  and  unaccustomed  to  sifting  evidence  and  that  close  analysis 
of  testimony  necessary  to  a  judicial  procedure. 

The  only  really  effective  remedy  must  be  provided  by  constitu- 
tional amendment  which  would  relegate  this  branch  of  litigation  to  the 
regular  courts  of  the  State  exercising  equitable  jurisdiction  where  the 
matters  would  be  decided  by  a  judge  sitting  without  a  jury.  Such 
courts  could  pass  upon  values  very  much  as  it  does  in  applications  for 
injunctions  by  abutting  property  owners  to  restrain  the  operations  of 
the  elevated  railroads.  Those  actions  are  practically  a  condemnation 
proceeding  of  the  easement  of  light,  air  and  access  and  this  method  of 


determining'  the  amount  of  awards  has  proved  very  satisfactory.  If 
condemnation  proceedings  were  prosecuted  before  the  courts  in  this 
way,  sitting  as  courts  of  equity,  the  question  of  the  value  of  the  prop- 
erties would  be  passed  upon  in  regular  judicial  proceedings  by  judges 
accustomed  to  deal  with  disputed  questions  and  familiar  with  the 
rules  of  evidence  and  cross  examination  of  witnesses. 

The  above  method  is  the  only  real  solution  of  the  problem,  but  it 
is  open  to  the  very  plain  objection  that  several  years  will  be  required 
to  secure  a  constitutional  amendment. 

Another  suggested  remedy  has  been  something  in  the  nature  of 
condemnation  courts,  or  Commissioners  appointed  by  the  Appellate 
Division  or  in  some  other  manner,  at  fixed  salaries,  to  try  and  deter- 
mine condemnation  cases.  There  are  serious  constitutional  questions 
as  to  some  features  of  this  plan,  but  probably  a  statute  along  these 
lines  could  be  drafted  which  would  not  be  open  to  constitutional  ob- 
jections, and  such  a  course  would  have  the  advantage  of  giving 
prompt  relief,  although  it  would,  while  probably  proving  more  satis- 
factory than  the  present  system,  be  open  to  many  of  the  same  objec- 
tions. 

CHARTER  REVISION. 

Two  years  ago,  in  my  message  to  your  honorable  body,  I  recom- 
mended a  revision  of  the  Charter  by  the  City  itself.  The  Legislature 
saw  fit  to  authorize  the  appointment  by  the  Governor  of  a  Commis- 
sion for  such  revision  and,  although  I  opposed  the  bill,  as  I  have  op- 
posed every  bill  menacing  home  rule,  I  have  given  every  possible  aid 
to  the  Commission.  I  understand  that  the  Commission,  which  has 
been  at  work  all  of  the  last  year,  will  be  ready  to  report  to  the  1  legis- 
lature early  in  the  present  session. 


89 


LAW  DEPARTMENT. 

The  number  of  actions  and  proceedings  of  all  kinds  commenced 
during  1908  was  39,500,  the  number  disposed  of  was  30,700,  and  the 
number  pending  at  the  close  of  the  year,  51,200.  Another  evidence  of 
the  enormous  volume  of  litigation  handled  is  contained  in  the  follow- 


ing record  of  court  work: 

Number  of  actions  tried  in  court   2,900 

Number  of  appeals  argued  at  Appellate  Division   225 

Number  of  appeals  argued  at  Appellate  Term   101 

Number  of  appeals  argued  at  General  Sessions   100 

Number  of  appeals  argued  at  Court  of  Appeals   60 

Number  of  hearings  before  referees  or  commissioners   8,250 

Number  of  motions  argued   2,184 

Number  of  orders  entered   4,319 

Number  of  judgments  against  City   350 

Amount  of  judgments  against  City  $500,000 

Number  of  judgments  in  favor  of  City   (not  including 

Personal  Tax  Cases)   275 

Amount  of  such  judgments  $125,000 


The  amount  of  judgments  against  the  City  during  each  of  the 
past  three  years  has  been  less  than  one-third  of  the  average  amount  of 
judgments  against  the  City  from  the  date  of  Consolidation  down  to 
and  including  1903. 

Collections  and  Disbursements — For  the  year  1908  the  moneys 
collected  will  exceed  $800,000.  The  average  amount  of  collections 
during  the  four  preceding  years  was  about  $220,000.  The  total  ap- 
propriations for  1908  were  $784,370.  The  Department,  was,  there- 
fore, more  than  self  supporting  during  the  year. 

Contracts,  Etc.,  Approved — The  number  of  contracts,  deeds, 
leases,  releases,  etc.,  approved  as  to  form,  was  over  4,700. 


90 


Opinions — The  number  of  written  opinions  rendered  was  over 
1,700. 

Bureau  of  Personal  Taxes — Seven  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
thirty  actions  were  commenced,  and  $109,894.70  was  collected. 

Bureau  of  Penalties— Over  ten  thousand  violations  of  Corpora- 
tion Ordinances  were  prosecuted. 

Tenement  House  Branch — Fifteen  thousand  sixty-five  violations 
were  received  on  which  over  6,500  actions  were  brought. 

Tax  Certiorari  Cases — During  the  year  1908  184  tax  certiorari 
cases  were  disposed  of.  The  amount  of  the  assessments  under  review 
in  those  cases  was  $96,059,107;  the  amount  of  assessments  in  litigation 
$48,785,497.  The  amount  of  such  assessments  sustained  was  $38,- 
293,030,  and  the  amount  vacated  $10,492,467.  Of  these  184  pro- 
ceedings disposed  of,  150  were  real  estate  cases,  which  included  2.254 
separate  assessments.  Of  these  real  estate  assessments  5  were  va- 
cated, 103  reduced,  and  2,146  sustained. 

Special  Franchise  Tax  Cases — Over  five  hundred  cases  have  been 
brought  against  the  State  Board  of  Tax  Commissioners  to  review  as- 
sessments on  street  railway  companies,  gas  and  electric  light  com- 
panies, etc.,  for  special  franchises.  The  City  of  Xew  York  receives 
the  entire  amount  of  the  tax  collected.  The  amount  of  the  assess- 
ments under  review  in  these  proceedings  is  over  two  billion  dollars. 
and  the  taxes  thereon  amount  to  over  thirty  mil  I  ion  dollars.  The  De- 
partment has  been  successful  in  the  defense  of  these  proceedings  and 
several  of  the  largest  corporations  have  submitted  offers  of  settlemeiit 
which  are  now  under  consideration. 

Water  Supply  Proceedings — Thirty-four  separate  proceedings 
to  acquire  property  have  been  commenced,  in  23  of  which  title  has 
vested  in  the  City.    The  land  thus  acquired  embraced  10,434  acres. 

Street  Opening  Proceedings — Fifty-six  proceedings  were  ter- 
minated by  confirmation  of  reports.    Fourteen  and  a  half  miles  of  new 


91 


streets  were  opened.  The  awards  in  these  proceedings  were  $4,517,- 
231.29,  and  the  assessments  on  property  benefited  $4,952,942.22. 

Other  Condemnation  Proceedings — Thirteen  proceedings  were 
completed  in  which  the  City  acquired  property  for  dock  purposes, 
brid  ge  approaches,  public  schools,  libraries,  baths,  etc. 

Organization — During  the  year  1908  the  Law  Department  has 
been  thoroughly  reorganized.  The  legal  force  has  been  arranged  in 
divisions  comprising  a  senior  assistant,  deputy  assistants,  junior  as- 
sistants and  law  clerks.  Each  division  handles  one  special  line  of 
litigation,  such  as  contracts,  torts,  real  estate,  etc.  Practically  all  posi- 
tions in  the  Department,  except  those  of  Assistant,  are  in  the  com- 
petitive Civil  Service.  The  office  force  at  the  close  of  the  year  was 
almost  400,  making  the  office  of  the  Corporation  Counsel  undoubtedly 
the  largest  law  office  in  the  world. 

CIVIL  SERVICE  IMPROVEMENTS. 

The  establishment  of  the  Board  of  Water  Supply,  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  Staten  Island  and  Thirty-ninth  street  ferries  and  the 
extension  of  the  paid  Fire  Department  into  the  boroughs  of  Queens 
and  Richmond  have  added  largely  to  the  work  of  the  Municipal 
Civil  Service  Commission.  In  the  year  just  ended  the  applications 
for  examination  have  averaged  5,000  a  month.  The  percentage  of 
absentees  from  examination  is  large  and  uncertain,  ranging  from 
20  to  30  per  cent,  of  the  number  of  applicants.  This  involves  such  a 
large  waste  of  time  and  money  for  stationery,  postage  and  the  em- 
ployment of  monitors  that  it  may  be  necessary  to  adopt  a  system  of 
fees  as  a  pre -requisite  to  the  filing  of  applications  and  as  a  means  of 
curbing  indiscriminate  application  for  examination. 

Among  the  more  important  changes  in  the  examining  depart- 
ment may  be  noted  the  holding  of  examinations  for  promotion  once  a 
year  only,  avoiding  the  expense  and  confusion  of  holding  them  when- 


92 


ever  called  Tor  by  the  various  departments;  the  establishment  of  a 
uniform  system  of  efficiency  records  in  all  departments  of  the  City 
government;  the  requirement  that  candidates  for  promotion  shall  file 
application  for  examination;  the  establishment  of  a  promotion  bureau 
under  the  responsible  charge  of  a  designated  examiner;  the  system 
of  renumbering  the  papers  of  candidates  to  prevent  the  examiners 
who  rate  the  papers  from  knowing  the  examination  numbers;  the 
absolute  protection  of  examination  papers  unrated  and  in  process  of 
rating;  the  absolute  verification  of  signatures  and  statements;  the 
appointment  of  monitors  from  the  non-competitive  class,  allowing  the 
employment  of  advanced  students  of  the  higher  educational  institu- 
tions; the  refusing  consideration  of  appeals  which  are  not  based  on  a 
reasonable  charge  of  error,  and  the  obtaining  of  information,  in  non- 
competitive examinations,  as  to  the  candidate's  fitness  instead  of 
relying  upon  the  unverifiable  statements  of  the  candidates  them- 
selves. 

In  the  payroll  division  a  card  index  system  now  shows  the  entire 
record  of  all  persons  employed  in  the  City  service  and  including  all 
who  have  been  so  employed  since  1898.  This  system  uses  60,000 
cards  and  covers  the  results  of  examinations  and  the  appointments 
and  changes  in  the  service  since  the  first  enforcement  of  the  Civil 
Service  Law  in  1884*.  In  the  past  five  years  the  detection  of  violations 
of  the  law  and  the  rules  in  regard  to  changes  in  the  service  necessi- 
tated the  deduction  of  about  25,000  names  from  the  payrolls,  but  in 
the  last  year  the  number  of  reductions  has  decreased  materially. 

In  the  Labor  Service,  where  the  number  of  applications  are  about 
25,000  annually,  the  Commission  has  eliminated  all  theoretical  ques- 
tions from  its  oral  and  trade-school  examinations  and  the  tests  are 
exclusively  practical. 

The  public  has  come  to  a  better  appreciation  of  the  Civil  Service 
Law  and  its  exactions.    Schools  of  instruction  have  been  established 


93 


in  political  headquarters  and  elsewhere  and  the  opportunities  for 
intelligent  study  of  the  qualifications  of  City  employees  grow  con- 
tinually. Several  of  the  leading  newspapers  devote  space  every  day 
to  information  in  regard  to  pending  examinations. 

ARMORIES. 

The  Armory  Board  is  responsible  for  the  care  and  maintenance  of 
the  quarters  of  twenty-six  military  and  naval  organizations,  housed  in 
twenty-three  buildings,  erected  and  equipped  at  a  total  cost  to  the 
City  of  New  York  of  $14,685,188.26. 

During  the  past  five  years  many  alterations  and  improvements, 
made  necessary  by  the  Dick  Bill  and  the  new  Military  Law,  have  been 
made  to  nineteen  of  those  buildings,  and  the  armories  of  the  Thir- 
teenth, Fourteenth,  Twenty-third  Regiments  and  Squadron  C,  in 
Brooklyn,  and  the  Ninth  and  Twelfth  Regiments,  in  Manhattan,  have 
been  enlarged. 

Four  new  armories  have  been  erected,  equipped  and  furnished  for 
these  organizations : 

Sixty-ninth  Regiment,  Twenty-fifth  Street  and  Lex- 
ington Avenue,  Manhattan,  at  a  cost  of   $1,539,964.84 

Seventy-first  Regiment,   Thirty-fourth  Street  and 

Park  Avenue,  Manhattan,  at  a  cost  of   1,194,757.90 

Squadron  C,  Bedford  Avenue,  President  and  LTnion 

Streets,  Brooklyn,  at  a  cost  of   571,679.09 

Second  Battalion  Naval  Militia,  First  Avenue  and 

Fifty-second  Street,  Brooklyn,  at  a  cost  of   582,948.91 

In  addition  to  these,  a  new  armory  is  in  process  of  construction  for 
the  Second  Battery,  at  Franklin  Avenue  and  East  One  Hundred  and 
Sixty-sixth  Street,  Borough  of  The  Bronx,  at  a  cost  of  $535,000,  and 
the  excavation  is  completed  for  an  armory  to  be  erected  for  the 
Twenty-second  Regiment  Engineers,  at  Fort  Washington  Avenue 

94 


and  One  Hundred  and  Sixty-eighth  Street,  Manhattan,  at  a  cost  of 
about  $1,100,000  (including  site,  building  and  equipment).  The 
money  for  this  building  will  be  provided  by  the  sale  of  the  present 
armory  of  the  organization  at  Sixty-eighth  Street  and  Broadway,  for 
which  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund  have  refused  an  offer 
of  approximately  $1,150,000. 

A  long  step  towards  economy  in  administration  has  been  made  by 
standardizing  the  supplies  and  furniture  for  the  various  armories,  and 
by  the  abandonment  of  obsolete  and  old-fashioned  lighting  methods. 

PARKS. 

New  York  now  has  7,222  acres  of  parks,  or  about  three  and 
two-fifths  per  cent,  of  its  209,218  acres.  Of  the  1,4.52  acres  in  Man- 
hattan, Central  Park  has  849  acres;  of  1,452  acres  in  Brooklyn,  Pros- 
pect Park  occupies  526  acres;  of  3,931  acres  in  The  Bronx,  Pelham 
Bay  Park  has  1,756  acres,  Van  Cortlandt  Park  1,132  acres,  and  Bronx 
Park  719  acres;  of  622  acres  in  Queens,  Forest  Park  has  536,  and  of 
63  acres  in  Richmond,  Silver  Lake  Park  takes  up  58  acres.  There  are 
52  miles  of  parkway  in  the  Greater  City. 

Of  the  total  park  acreage,  253  acres  were  placed  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Park  Department  during  the  last  five  years.  These  in- 
clude Chelsea  Park,  58  acres  added  to  Bronx  Park;  Kissena  Park, 
Greenpoint,  Amersfort,  Highland  and  McLaughlin  parks  in  the 
Borough  of  Brooklyn,  and  several  small  unnamed  parks  as  well  as 
desirable  additions  to  parks  already  existing. 

Of  the  $2,850,608.34  of  Corporate  Stock  properly  chargeable  to 
this  administration  for  construction  and  imnrovement  in  the  parks  of 
Manhattan  and  Richmond  during  the  last  five  years,  $1,240,000  went 
to  the  building  of  the  extension  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Ait. 
and  $500,000  to  the  additions  to  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History.    Issues  of  $4,942,000  of  Corporate  Stock  were  made  neces- 

95 


sary  by  the  acts  of  previous  administrations,  such  as  the  authorization 
of  $3,650,000  for  the  New  York  Public  Library  Fund. 

In  the  same  period  of  time  Corporate  Stock  of  $4,505,602.9-1  was 
issued  for  the  parks  of  Brooklyn  and  Queens,  but  $1,875,000  of  this 
went  to  complete  the  Shore  road. 

The  generally  good  condition  of  the  parks  at  the  present  time 
will,  I  believe,  justify  to  the  public  whatever  sums  have  been  spent  in 
acquiring,  improving  and  maintaining  them.  Central  Park,  always  a 
difficult  problem  from  its  very  size,  situation  and  the  demands  made 
upon  it,  lias  been  brought  to  excellent  condition.  Its  soil  has  been  re- 
plenished as  far  as  economy  allowed  and  the  removal  of  unnecessary 
tree  growth  gives  opportunity  for  the  survival  of  the  necessary. 

Prospect  Park,  which  has  required  little  criticism  since  the  incom- 
ing of  the  present  Commissioner,  stands  as  a  model  of  what  may  be 
done  with  a  park  possessing  great  natural  advantages.  In  both  the 
parks  named  the  roads  have  been  brought  to  a  state  of  first-class  utility. 
The  proper  use  of  oil  has,  at  a  trifling  cost,  laid  the  dust,  kept  the 
material  together  and  protected  the  adjoining  land. 

Much  construction  has  been  done  in  the  parks  of  The  Bronx, 
which  have  come  to  be  enjoyed  by  the  people  of  all  the  boroughs,  at- 
tracted by  the  Zoological  Park,  the  golf  links  and  gardens  of  Van 
Cortlandt  Park,  the  athletic  grounds  and  bathing  beaches  of  Pelham 
Bay  Park  and  the  innumerable  features  of  the  great  system. 

METROPOLITAN  MUSEUM  OF  ART. 
The  first  section  of  the  new  North  Wing  of  the  Metropolitan 
Museum  of  Art  will  be  opened  on  January  4  by  an  exhibition  of 
German  contemporary  art,  sent  here  by  a  special  commission  officially 
appointed  by  the  German  Government.  The  new  Central  Wing,  to 
accommodate  the  Hoentschel  Collection  and  other  collections  of 
decorative  art,  will  be  finished  during  the  early  part  of  the  year. 

96 


THE  ART  COMMISSION. 

The  annual  number  of  submissions  acted  upon  by  the  Art  Com- 
mssion  has  doubled  during  the  last  live  years,  being  90  in  1904,  and 
180  in  1908,  and  the  total  number  of  submissions  for  these  five  years 
is  681.  These  submissions  cover  objects  having  a  total  estimated 
value  of  $130,000,000,  and  include  409  public  structures.  138  statues, 
monuments  and  busts,  9.5  ornamental  and  drinking  fountains,  12  por- 
traits and  mural  decorations  and  27  tablets. 

In  July,  1907,  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Commission  was  extended 
to  all  structures  built  on  public  land.  Previous  to  this  amendment 
structures  costing  less  than  $1,000,000  were  passed  upon  by  the  Com- 
mission only  when  requested  to  do  so  by  the  Mayor.  The  number  of 
such  requests  increased  rapidly  from  year  to  year,  for  in  1904  the 
Mayor  requested  the  Commission  to  act  upon  28  structures,  in  1905 
on  56  structures,  in  1906  on  65,  and  during  the  first  five  months  of 
1907,  on  51. 

The  Charter  makes  the  Art  Commission,  in  a  manner,  guardian 
of  existing  works  of  art  owrned  by  the  City,  which  comprise  425  por- 
traits, sculptural  objects  and  mural  decorations.  The  collection  of 
portraits  dates  from  1790,  but  until  the  investigation  by  the  Art  Com- 
mission practically  nothing  was  known  as  to  the  time  and  manner  of 
their  acquisition,  and  in  many  cases  the  artists  were  unknown.  In 
1904  the  Art  Commission  printed  a  tentative  list  of  the  works  of  ai  t 
in  the  Borough  of  Manhattan.  This  was  followed  in  1906  by  a 
similar  list  of  those  in  the  Borough  of  Brooklyn.  The  Commission 
printed  the  meagre  data  found  on  the  small  tablets  on  the  portraits, 
without  questioning  their  accuracy,  but  in  1907  it  began  a  systematic 
search  through  the  City's  records  and  from  them  unearthed  the  facts 
concerning  nearly  all  the  paintings  and  sculpture.  These  facts,  with 
a  photograph  and  a  brief  description  of  the  listed  object,  have  been 
put  on  file  in  the  office  of  the  Commission.  The  Commission  lias  just 
issued  a  catalogue  of  the  works  of  art  belonging  to  the  City. 

97 


BROOKLYN  PUBLIC  LIBRARY. 
Work  on  the  new  central  building   of   the   Brooklyn  Public 
Library  will  be  started  in  about  a  year.    This  library  will  cost  $5,- 
OOO.OOO  and  w  ill  be  built  at  tbc  junction  of  Flatbush  Avenue  and  tbe 
Eastern  Parkway. 

CU  TS  TO  THE  CITY. 

Las1  spring  Mrs.  Russell  Sage,  who  takes  great  interest  in  Cen- 
tral Park,  gave  to  the  Park  a  plantation  of  hybrid  and  maximum  rho- 
dodendrons, including  all  the  soil  necessary  for  the  planting,  as  well 
.is  ail  the  labor  required  in  connection  with  setting  the  plants.  The 
plantation  is  on  the  East  Drive,  between  Ninetieth  and  One  Hun- 
dredth Streets,  and  is  the  finest  exhibition  of  its  kind  in  the  world. 
This  gift,  which  cost  tbe  donor  about  $60,000,  has  added  to  the  land- 
scape effect  of  Centra]  Park  an  adornment  w  hich  will  last  many  years. 

Mis.  Sage  has  also  volunteered  to  pay  for  the  restoration  of  the 
Governors'  Room  in  the  City  Hall  to  its  original  condition.  This 
work  will  cost  more  than  $25,000. 

All  litigation  in  connection  with  the  bequest  of  Angelina  Crane, 
under  her  will  dated  January  19,  1891,  for  the  erection  of  a  drinking 
Fountain  to  her  memory,  lias  been  ended.  The  Commissioner  of 
Parks  for  the  Boroughs  of  Manhattan  and  Richmond  lias  in  course  of 
preparation  a  contract  with  Frederick  MacMonnies  for  the  submis- 
sion of  a  suitable  design  commensurate  with  the  amount  of  the  avail- 
able fund,  about  $60,000.  When  this  design  is  received,  it  will  be 
submitted  to  the  Art  Commission  for  approval  as  to  design  and  loca- 
tion in  City  Hall  Park. 

The  City  has  recently  recovered  a  legacy  of  $187,740.84  left  to  it 
by  the  late  Betsy  Head,  to  be  used  for  the  purchase  and  improvement 
of  playgrounds. 


98 


PUBLIC    LIBRARY    NO.  6. 
One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  Street  Branch. 
McKim,  Mead  &  White.  Architects. 


PUBLIC   LIBRARY    NO.  II. 
Tompkins  Square  Branch. 

McKim.  Mead  &  White.  Architects. 


PUBLIC    LIBRARY    NO.  35. 
Hamilton  Grange  Branch,  One  Hundred  and  Forty-fifth  Street. 
McKim,  Mead  &  White,  Architects. 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  ROAD  CONGRESS  AT  PARIS. 

Last  October  the  International  Road  Congress,  the  purpose  of 
which  I  outlined  in  my  last  message  to  your  Honorable  Board,  was 
held  at  Paris.  This  Congress,  the  first  of  its  kind  ever  organized,  was 
arranged  by  the  French  Government,  and  was  prompted  by  the  serious 
effect  of  high-speed  motor  cars  upon  the  highways.  Three  delegates 
were  sent  by  the  United  States  Government,  and  several  American 
states  and  cities  were  also  represented.  The  Chief  Engineer  of  the 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  Nelson  P.  Lewis,  and 
the  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Department  of  Finance,  Chandler  Well- 
ington, were  delegated  to  represent  the  City  of  New  York,  in 
the  belief  that  not  only  would  valuable  information  be  secured  at  the 
Congress,  but  that  the  opportunity  to  observe  the  organization  and 
methods  under  which  municipal  improvements  are  planned  and  carried 
out  in  European  cities,  would  be  of  substantial  use  to  our  engineers. 
This  practice  of  sending  technical  representatives  to  other  cities  and 
countries  is  quite  generally  followed  by  European  cities,  with  most 
advantageous  results.  Mr.  Lewis  and  Mr.  Withington  have  prepared 
full  reports  on  the  Congress.  For  the  following  synopsis  I  am  in- 
debted to  Mr.  Lewis: 

The  most  conspicuous  difference  between  the  administration  of 
public  works,  and  especially  of  highways,  in  Europe  and  America, 
is  the  centralization  of  authority  and  responsibility  in  the  former,  and 
the  decentralization,  or  diffusion  of  such  authority  and  responsibility, 
in  this  country.  In  general,  it  may  be  stated,  that  greater  centraliza- 
tion is  accompanied  by  increased  efficiency  and  economy,  although  the 
experience  of  Switzerland  may  be  considered  an  exception.  In  that 
country  the  central  government  assumes  no  responsibility  and  exer- 
cises no  authority  over  the  highways,  each  canton  being  responsible 
for  its  own  roads.    In  Great  Britain  the  policy  of  decentralization  has 


99 


been  carried  to  an  absurd  extreme,  there  being  in  England  and  Wales 
sonic  1,900  separate  boards  or  councils,  having  jurisdiction  over  high- 
way maintenance,  while  it  is  said  that  within  fifteen  miles  of  Charing 
Cross,  London,  the  re  are  ninety  local  road  authorities,  who  act  inde- 
pendently of  each  other.  In  the  City  of  Xew  York  there  are  separate 
highway  bureaus  dealing  with  the  streets  and  roads  in  each  borough, 
each  independent  of  the  other  and  each  with  its  own  organization,  its 
own  methods  of  administration  and  its  own  standards  of  work.  The 
waste  of  energy,  material  and  money,  and  the  unsatisfactory  results 
are  matters  of  common  knowledge. 

The  general  use  of  the  motor  car,  with  its  serious  effect  upon 
roads  of  the  old  type,  is  necessitating  different  treatment  and  different: 
methods  of  construction  wherever  roads  of  the  macadam  type  are  in 
use.  The  mileage  of  such  roads  in  the  City  of  Xew  York  is,  and  will 
continue  to  be,  large,  until  our  suburban  wards  have  been  so  fully 
developed  as  to  permit  the  laying  of  permanent  pavements.  These 
roads  cannot  be  reconstructed  at  once,  but  the  dust  nuisance  can 
undoubtedly  be  greatly  abated  by  surface  treatment.  Sprinkling  with 
oil  emulsions  and  coating  with  tar  or  other  bituminous  material  have 
been  successfully  employed  on  European  and  on  some  American  roads. 
Similar  methods  have  been  used  to  a  very  limited  extent  in  this  city, 
but  this  treatment  has  not  had  the  serious  investigation  and  the  technical 
study  which  is  required  to  make  it  a  success,  and  to  avoid  the  nuisance, 
discomfort  and  damage  which  follows  a  careless  or  haphazard  appli- 
cation of  these  materials.  If  there  is  a  city  or  a  locality  which  is  in 
conspicuous  need  of  an  efficient  organization  with  uniform  practice 
and  standards  and  with  distinct  responsibility  and  authority  for  the 
administration  of  its  highways,  it  is  the  City  of  New  York. 

During  the  progress  of  the  Congress,  I  am  informed  by  Mr. 
Lewis,  the  suggestion  I  made  last  year  to  the  Prefect  of  the  Seine 


100 


that  the  Congress  increase  its  scope  so  as  to  take  in  other  serious 
problems  of  municipal  government,  was  widely  discussed  by  the  dele- 
gates. 

The  next  Congress  takes  place  in  Brussels  in  1910  and  there  is 
every  indication  there  will  be  an  opportunity  for  an  interchange  of 
views  and  experiences  on  all  municipal  problems. 

MUNICIPAL  OPERATION. 

So  far  as  it  has  been  in  my  power  I  have  followed  the  policy  de- 
clared in  the  last  municipal  campaign,  that  municipal  operation  of 
public  utilities  should  be  resorted  to  only  when  private  ownership  fails 
to  render  satisfactory  service.  It  was  this  policy  which  resulted  in 
taking  over  the  Staten  Island  Ferry  and  the  Thirty-ninth  Street 
Ferry  and  the  private  water  companies  of  Staten  Island.  In  operat- 
ing these  ferries  at  a  loss  the  City  is  carrying  out  one  of  its  responsi- 
bilities to  a  part  of  its  people. 

In  signing  the  Elsberg  Rapid  Transit  Bill  on  April  20,  1906,  I 

said: 

"  If  it  should  prove  that  private  capital  will  not  be  of- 
fered under  these  conditions  and  that  the  City,  by  itself,  can- 
not construct  and  equip  these  new  roads,  it  will  be  perfectly 
feasible  to  apply  to  the  next  Legislature  for  a  satisfactory 
amendment  to  this  law.  *  *  *  In  the  meantime  the 
City  will  have  had  the  advantage  of  accurately  ascertaining 
just  how  much  it  must  concede  in  order  to  induce  responsible 
persons  to  invest  in  its  new  rapid  transit  routes." 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  time  has  now  come  to  make  such  amend- 
ments to  the  Elsberg  law  as  will  encourage  private  capital  to  extend 
our  transit  facilities. 


101 


We  have  the  assurance,  moreover,  under  existing  Law,  that  the 
City's  interests  in  such  contracts  will  be  safeguarded  by  a  strict  ac- 
counting system. 

In  closing,  I  wish  to  express  my  thanks  to  the  Department  heads 
who  have  served  under  me  and  to  the  members  of  my  office  staff. 

Respectfully, 

Mayor. 


102 


APPENDIX 


STATEMENT   OF   CORPORATE   STOCK  ISSUED 

From  January  1,  1904,  to  November  1,  1908, 

Showing  the  Amount  Thereof  Issued  for  Purposes  to  Which  the  City  was  Committed 
Prior  to  January  1,  1901,  and  the  Amounts  Issued  for  Purposes  Authorized 
Subsequent  to  Said  Date. 

For  Water. 
Additional  JVater  Fund,  City  of  New  York. 


Commitments. 

,  *  \ 

Total.  Prior  to         Subsequent  to 

January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


Sanitary    Protection     of  Croton 

$68,500  00 


Watershed  

$68,500 

00 

Additional  Water  Fund  (Aqueduct 

13,287,063 

62 

Water  Fund,  Manhattan  and  The 

6,596,938 

37 

Water  Main  Fund  No.  3  

21,000 

00 

New  Water  Supply  (chapter  724, 

Laws  of  1905)  

5,693,500 

00 

High    Pressure    Water  System, 

3,394,650 

00 

Water  Main  Fund,  Brooklyn  

122,100 

00 

Water  Construction,  Brooklyn.  .  .  . 

31,500 

00 

Water  Fund,  Brooklyn  

7,020,404 

64 

High     Pressure    Water  System. 

Brooklyn   

1,414,600 

00 

Water  Fund,  Queens  

874,000 

00 

Water  Fund,  Richmond  

376,200 

00 

1,869,800  00    $4,727,138  37 
21,000  00   


5,693,500  00 
3,394,650  00 


122,100  00   

31,500  00   

2,371,000  00  4,649,404  64 

  1,414.600  00 

505,000  00  369.000  00 

72,000  00  304,200  00 


Examination,  etc.,  as  to  Present  and 

Future  Water  Supply  of  the  City  2,498  -26  2,498  26 

Water  Meter  Fund  (for  Purchase 

of  Water  Meters)   5,000  00  5,000  00 


105 


( Commitments. 


Total. 


Water  .Main,  from  Trotting  Course 
Lane  to  .Myrtle  and  Cypress 
Avenues.  Queens  

Selecting  Site  for  Filter  Plant  and 
Preparing  Plans  and  Specifica- 
tions   

Acquisition  of  Property,  Rye  Lake, 
W  ampus  River  and  Pond  

Land  for  Pipe  Conduits,  etc., 
Brooklvn   


Prior  to  Subsequent  to 

January  1,  January  1, 

1904.  1904. 


22,600  00 

50,000  00 
640,643  37 
3,900  00 


22,600  00 

50,000  00 
640,643  37 
3,900  00 


Total  tor  Water   $39,625,098  26  $18,355,461   88  $21,269,636  38 


For  Rapid  Transit. 


Commitments. 


Total, 


Prior  to         Subsequent  to 
January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


Manhattan  and  The  Bronx   $12,536,722  38  $12,536,722  38   

Brooklyn  and  Manhattan   3,514,500  00      3,514,500  00   

Brooklyn  Loop  Lines  in  Manhattan       3,389,602  80    $3,389,602  80 


Total  for  Rapid  Transit.  $19,440,825  18  $16,051,222  38    $3,389,602  80 


1D6 


For  Schools. 


Commitments. 


Total. 


Prior  to         Subsequent  to 
January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1Q04. 


High  School  Fund  (old  account)  .  .  $76,000  00 

School  Building  Fund,  Richmond..  80,000  00 

School  Building  Fund,  All  Bor- 
oughs   50,163,430  00 

College  of  The  City  of  New  York.  4,156,500  00 

Normal    College    Building,  Fire 

Escapes   5,000  00 

Purchase    of    State    Normal  and 

Training  School,  Jamaica   83,000  00 

Boys'  High  School,  Brooklyn   6,000  00 

Parental  School,  Queens   86,500  00 

School  Buildings,  Interior  Con- 
struction— 

Manhattan    164,822  00 

The  Bronx   37,000  00 

Brooklyn    272,872  00 

Queens    69,800  00 

Richmond    9,200  00 

School  Buildings,  Construction  and 

Improvements:  Contingencies...  114,000  00 

School  Buildings,  Construction  and 
Improvements — 

Manhattan   9,000  00 

Brooklyn    81,700  00 

Queens    7,000  00 

School  Buildings,  Fire  Protection — 

Manhattan    96,406  25 

The  Bronx   7,000  00 

Brooklyn    57,000  00 

Queens    38,000  00 

Richmond    6,000  00 

Washington   Irving  High  School. 

Manhattan    12,000  00 


$76,000  oo 

80,000  00 

12,538,430  00 

4,156,500  00 


17,625,000  00 


5,000  00 

83,000  00 

6,000  00 

86,500  00 


164.822  00 

37,000  00 

272.872  00 

69,800  00 

9.200  00 

114,000  00 


9,000  00 

81,700  00 

7,000  00 

96.406  25 

7,000  00 

57,000  00 

38,000  00 

6,000  00 

12.000  00 


Total  for  Schools   $55,638,230  25  $16,850,930  00  $38,787,300  2 


107 


For  Parks  and  Public  Places,  Etc. 


Commitments. 


Total.  Prior  to         Subsequent  to 

January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


William  H.  Seward  Park  in  Hester 

Street    $6,300  00  $6,300  00   

Chelsea  Park   8,500  00    $8,500  00 

Improvement  of  Claremont  Park, 

on  Clay  Avenue  Side,  The  Bronx  15,000  00    15,000  00 

Improvement  of  St.  James  Park, 

The  Bronx   14,500  00    14,500  00 

Bath  Houses  and  Shelter  House, 

Orchard    Beach,    Pelham  Bay 

Park    4,100  00    4,100  00 

Improvement  of  Pelham  Bay  Park 

Along  Pelham  Bay  Shore   10,000  00    10,000  00 

Improvement  of  Mosholu  Parkway  13,500  00    13,500  00 

Improvement  of  Bronx  and  Pel- 
ham Parkway   52,700  00    52,700  00 

Improvement  of   Spuyten  Duyvil 

Parkway    45,000  00    45,000  00 

Construction  and  Improvement  of 

John  Jay  Park,  DeWitt  Clinton 

Park.   Thomas    Jefferson  Park 

and  Small  Park  at  Thirty-fifth 

Street  and  First  Avenue   350,000  00         350,000  00   

Additional  Public  Parks  Fund   350,000  00         350,000  00  

Public  Park  in  Twelfth  Ward.  One 
Hundred  and  Forty-fifth.  One 
Hundred  and  Fifty-fifth  Streets, 
Bradhurst  and  Edgecombe  Ave- 
nues   48  94  48  94   

Riverside  Park  and  Drive,  Ninety- 
sixth  Street  Viaduct   211.128  16         211,428  16   


108 


Commitments. 


Total. 


Prior  to         Subsequent  to 
January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


Riverside  Park  and  Drive,  Twelfth 

Avenue    Viaduct,    Awards  for 

Damages    220,513  94 

Botanical  Museum,  Herbarium  and 

Garden    441,360  92 

Washington  Park  in  Stapleton  and 

Small  Park  in  Richmond,  Im- 
provement of   3,095  76 

Construction  and  Maintenance  of 

Public  Parkways   10,000  00 

Improvement  of  Parks,  Parkways 

and    Drives,     Manhattan  and 

Richmond    575,500  00 

Restoration   and   Improvement  of 

Jumel  Mansion  and  Grounds.  .  .  11,275  00 

Improvement  of  Parks,  Parkways 
and  Drives — 

The  Bronx   563,000  00 

Queens    476,000  00 

Toilet  Facilities  in  City  Parks  and 
Rebuilding  Bank,  Rock  Bridge, 

Central  Park   23,500  00 

Widening  and  Improving  Cathe- 
dral   Parkway,    Between  Fifth 

and  Seventh  Avenues,  Manhattan  63,000  00 

Xew  York  Zoological  Garden  in 

Bronx  Park   1,030,870  70 

Improvement  and  Construction  of 
Parks,  Parkways,  Playgrounds, 
Boulevards  and  Driveways,  Man- 
hattan and  Richmond   1,457,500  00 

Improvement  and  Construction  of 

Parks,  etc.,  The  Bronx   980.666  66 


220,513  94   

141,000  00  300,360  92 

3,095  76   

10,000  00   

506,500  00  69,000  00 
  11,275  00 


482,000  00  81,000  00 

321,000  00         155.000  00 


23,500  00 


  63,000  00 

300,000  00  730,870  70 

  1,457,500  00 

  980.666  66 


109 


Commitments. 


Total.  Prior  to         Subsequent  to 

January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


Improvement  and  Construction  of 

Parks,  etc., Brooklyn  and  Queens  1,476,680  00 
Acquisition    and    Construction  of 

Playgrounds  for  the  Children  of 

the  City   903,000  00 

Athletic  Fields  Under  Jurisdiction 

of  Board  of  Education   305,500  00 

Reconstructing    Bulkhead    on  the 

Speedway    2,000  00 

Alterations,  etc..  in  DeWitt  Clinton 

Park    1,000  00 

Wire  Fence,  Bronx  Park,  at  Bronx- 
dale    5,000  00 

Department  of   Parks.  Repairing 
Drives,  etc. — 

Manhattan  and  Richmond   1,000  00 

Brooklyn  and  Queens   54,000  00 

The  Bronx  


,476,680  00 

903,000  00 
305, 500  00 
2,000  00 
1,000  00 
5,000  00 


1,000  00 
54,000  00 
23,000  00 


Total,  Parks,  etc   $9,708,540  08     $2,925,386  80    $6,783,153  28 


For  Public  Buildings. 


Commitments. 


Total. 


Improving,  etc.,  New  County  Court 

House,  Manhattan   $50,000  00 

New  Hall  of  Records   3,106,164  94 


Prior  to 
January  1 
1904. 


$3,106,164  94 


Subsequent  to 
January  1, 
1904. 


$50,000  00 


110 


Commitments. 

 A  \ 

Total.  Prior  to         Subsequent  to 

January  1 ,        January  1 , 
1904.  1904. 


Municipal  Building,  Manhattan 
Terminal  of  New  York  and 
Brooklyn    Bridge,    Plans  and 

Specifications    20,000  00    20,000  00 

New  Hall  of  Records,  Equipping 

Offices    33,000  00    33,000  00 

Criminal  Court  Building,  Manhat- 
tan, Completion   56,000  00  56,000  00   

Criminal  Courts  Building,  Install- 
ing Vacuum  Cleaning  System ..  .  5,000  00    5,000  00 

Criminal  Courts  Building,  Com- 
pleting Electrical  Wiring  System  9,500  00  9,500  00   

Court  of  General  Sessions,  Equip- 
ping Additional  Court  Room,  etc.  32,500  00    32,500  00 

Repairs  to  County  Court  House, 

New  York  County   50,000  00    50,000  00 

Thirteenth  District  Municipal 
Court,  Manhattan,  Acquisition  of 

Property  on  Madison  Street.  .  .  .  127,000  00    127,000  00 

Repairs  and  Alterations  to  Build- 
ing No.  261  Madison  Street, 
Manhattan,  for  Use  of  Thir- 
teenth District  Municipal  Court .  44,000  00    ll.oOOOO 

Permanently  Bettering  Fifty-sev- 
enth Street  Court  House,  Jeffer- 
son  Market   Court   House  and 

Harlem  Court  House   12,000  00    12,000  00 

Improvement  to  Brownstone  Build- 
ing, City  Hall  Park   20,000  00    20,000  00 

Improvements,    etc.,    City  Hall, 

Manhattan    45,000  00    45,000  00 

Municipal  Electric  Lighting  Plant.         625,000  00    625,000  00 


111 


Commitments. 

 A,  


Total.  Prior  to         Subsequent  to 

January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


Improving  Washington,  West 
Washington.  Fulton  and  Jeffer- 
son Markets  

West  Washington  Market,  Recon- 
struction of  Buildings  Damaged 
by  Fire  

Office  Building.  President  of  the 
Borough  of  The  Bronx,  Will- 
iamsbridge   

Construction  and  Equipment,  Court 
House,  The  Bronx  

Kings  County  Hall  of  Records, 
Metallic  Furniture  

Kings  County  Hall  of  Records, 
Extension,  Alterations,  etc  

Municipal  Court  House  Site, 
Brooklyn   

New  Municipal  Building  and  Addi- 
tional Court  Building,  Brooklyn, 
Construction   

Court  House  on  Gates  Avenue  for 
Second  District  Municipal  Court 
and  Sixth  District  Magistrates' 
Court,  Brooklyn  

Gates  Avenue  Court  House,  Brook- 
lyn, Electric  Light  and  Gas  Fix- 
tures   

Permanently  Bettering  Borough 
Hall,  Brooklyn  

Permanently  Bettering  Kings 
County  Court  House  

Kings  County  Court  House,  Coal 
Vaults,  etc  


26,500  00 


175,000  00 


197,700  00 


175,000  00 
6,500  00 

197,700  00 
1,100  00 


13,000  00  13,000  00 

50,000  00  50,000  00 

1,500  00   

1,000  00   

7,000  00   

3,350  00   


16,000  00 
26,500  00 
53,000  00 

6,500  00 
1,100  00 


1,500  00 
1,000  00 
7,000  00 
3.350  00 


112 


Tot; 


Commitments. 


Prior  to         Subsequent  to 
January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


Repairs,  etc.,  Men's  Prison,  Ray- 
mond Street  Jail.  Brooklyn .... 

Raymond  Street  Jail,  New  Build- 
ing, Plans  and  Specifications. .  .  . 

Public  Comfort  Station,  Wallabout 
Market,  Brooklyn  

Public  Market,  Brooklyn.  Acquir- 
ing Title  

Public  Market,  Eighth  Ward, 
Brooklyn,  Preparing  Land  

Construction  of  Borough  Hall, 
Queens  

Rebuilding  Queens  County  Court 
House   

Alterations,  etc.,  to  Queens  County 
Court  House  Building,  Long 
Island  City  

Construction  of  County  and  Bor- 
ough Buildings,  Queens  

Queens  County  Jail,  New  Fence .  . 

Borough  Building,  Richmond.  .  .  . 

Staten  Island  Association  of  Arts 
and  Sciences,  Furnishing  Quar- 
ters in  Borough  Hall  

New  Richmond  County  Jail.  Con- 
struction   

Richmond  County  Court  House, 
Improving,  etc  

Armory  Fund  

American  Museum  of  Natural  His- 
tory   

Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art  


20,000  00    20,000  00 

7,500  00    7,500  00 

500  00    500  00 

752,700  00    752,700  00 

146,500  00    146,500  00 

42,347  48  42,347  48   

280,000  00    280,000  00 

39,471  75    39,471  75 

15,000  00    15,000  00 

9,700  00    9,700  00 

619,700  00  619,700  00   

4,000  00    4,000  00 

105,000  00  105,000  00   

3,000  00    3.000  00 

3,309,936  12  2,133,422  55  1,176,513  57 

739,000  00  308,000  00  431.000  00 

759,400  00  20,000  00  739.400  00 


113 


Commitments. 


Total. 


Prior  to 
January  1, 
1904. 


Subsequent  to 
January  1, 
1904. 


Museum  oi'  Arts  and  Sciences, 
Brooklyn.  Addition  

Aquarium  Building,  Battery  

Public  Bath.  Rivington  Street.  .  .  . 

Public  Baths.  Manhattan  

Public  Baths.  The  Bronx  

Heating  Equipment,  Building  at 
One  Hundred  and  Sixty-seventh 
Street,  Brook  and  Washington 
Avenues,  The  Bronx  

Public  Baths,  Brooklyn  

Public  Bath,  Eighth  Street,  First 
Ward,  Queens  

Interior  Public  Baths,  Long  Island 
City   

Floating  Hath.  Long  Island  City.  . 

( rouverneur  Hospital  

New  Bellevue  Hospital  

Temporary  Pavilions,  Bellevue 
Hospital   

Alterations  to  Buildings  and  Fire 
Protection  Devices,  Bellevue 
Hospital   

Bellevue  Hospital  Training  School 
for  Women  Nurses  

New  Bellevue  Hospital,  Acquiring 
Property   

Dormitory.  Medical  College  Build- 
ing. Manhattan  

New  Harlem  Hospital  

Fordham  Hospital  

Cumberland  Street  Hospital, 
Brooklvn,  Alterations  


lilili  TOO 

00 

666  700  00 

64,500 

00 

30,000  00 

22,500 

00 

1,700  00 

1,357,567 

50 

811,500  00 

125,000 

00 

125,000  00 

960 

00 

A  A  f\  (\<\ i  \ 

44-y.OOO 

00 

zO/,000  00 

3,500 

00 

550 

00 

1 5 ,000 

00 

350,500 

00 

350,500  00 

1,152,100 

00 

1,152,100  00 

15.000 

00 

19,800 

00 

687,500 

00 

1,622,666 

90 

1,622.666  90 

3,000 

00 

3,000  00 

770,000 

00 

770.000  00 

741,750 

00 

741.750  00 

21,000 

00 

S  1-.500  00 
20,800  00 
546,067  50 


960  00 
181,400  00 

3,500  00 

550  00 
15,000  00 


15,000  00 

19,800  00 
687,500  00 


21.000  00 


114 


Commitments. 


Total. 


Prior  to 
January  1, 
1904. 


Subsequent  to 
January  1, 
1904. 


Reception    Hospital    for  Insane, 
Site^  Manhattan  

Department  of  Correction,  Build- 
ing Fund  

Penitentiary  on  Rikers  Island.  .  .  . 

Department  of  Charities — 

Building  Fund  

Lodging  House,  Manhattan.  .  .  . 

Staff  House,  Metropolitan  Hos- 
pital, Blackwells  Island  

Tuberculosis  Infirmary,  Metro- 
politan Hospital,  Blackwells 
Island  

Morgue,  Metropolitan  Hospital. 

Hospital  Pavilion,  City  Home, 
Blackwells  Island  

Nurses'  Home,  Children's  Hos- 
.  pital,  Randalls  Island  

Nurses'  Home  and  Training 
School,  Kings  County  Hos- 
pital   

Acquiring  Land  for  Coney 
Island  Hospital  

Additional  Dormitories,  City 
Colony.  Richmond  

Pavilion  for  Insane,  City  Col- 
ony, Richmond  

Steam  Heating  and  Lighting 
Plant,  Kings  County  Hospital 

New  York  Public  Library  

Centra]   Library  Building.  Brook- 

lvn   


145,000  00    145,000  00 

295,000  00  35,000  00  260,000  00 

43,500  00    43,500  00 

1,999,800  00  489,500  00  1,510.300  00 

20,000  00    20,000  00 

2,000  00    2,000  00 

4,500  00    4,500  00 

1,500  00    1.500  00 

9,000  00    9.000  00 

3,000  00    3,000  00 

6,500  00    6,500  00 

127,662  00    127.662  00 

3,000  00    3.000  00 

500  00    500  00 

2,500  00  2,500  00   

3,487,400  00  3,487,400  00   

18.825  82    18.825  82 


115 


Commitments. 
f  > 
Total.  Prior  to         Subsequent  to 

January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


Enlarging  Site.  Montague  Street 
Branch  Brooklyn  Public  Library 

Sites  for  C  arnegie  Libraries  

City  Court  Building.  City  Hall 
Park.  Additional  Stories  

Kings  County  Court  House,  Con- 
struction of  Additional  Stories.  . 

.Municipal  Court  House  Site, 
Brooklyn   

Department  of  Public  Charities, 
Metropolitan  Hospital,  New 
Dormitory   


30,000  00  30,000  00 

1,343,000  00      1,343,000  00 


27,000  00 
11,000  00 
93  75 


2,474  02 


27,000  00 
11,000  00 
93  75 

2,474  02 


Total  for  Public  Buildings  $27,312,420  28  $18,765,751  87    $8,546,668  41 


For  Bridges. 


Total. 


Brooklyn  Bridge,  Gore  of  Land  at 
Southeast  Corner  of  William 
Street  and  Present  Property  of 
Bridge   

Brooklyn  Bridge  Station.  Sands 
and  'Washington  Streets,  Remov- 
ing Supporting  Columns  

Brooklyn  Bridge,  Reconstructing 
Manhattan  Terminal  


$1,800  00 

9,000  00 
380.500  00 


Commitments. 

 A  .  


Prior  to         Subsequent  to 
January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


$380,500  00 


$1,800  00 


9.000  00 


116 


Commitments. 


Total. 


Prior  to         Subsequent  to 
January  1.         January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


Brooklyn  Bridge,  Acquisition  of 
Property  for  Manhattan  Ter- 
minal   

Brooklyn  Bridge,  Reconstructing 
Railway  Floor  

Brooklyn  Bridge,  Constructing 
Trolley  Railway  Approaches, 
Brooklyn   

Brooklyn  Bridge,  Track  Stringers, 
Safety  Signals  and  Track  Loop. 

Williamsburg  Bridge  

Manhattan  Bridge  

Queensboro  Bridge  (Blackwells 
Island)   

Bridge  Over  Harlem  River,  First 
and  Willis  Avenues  

Bridge  Over  Harlem  River,  at 
Third  Avenue  

Bridge  Over  Harlem  River,  at 
Madison  Avenue  

Bridge  Over  Harlem  River,  from 
One  Hundred  and  Forty-fifth  to 
One  Hundred  and  Forty-ninth 
Street   

Bridge  Over  Harlem  River,  from 
Two  Hundred  and  Seventh  to 
One  Hundred  and  Eighty-fourth 
Street   

Bridge  Across  Spuyten  Duvvil 
Creek  (Henry  Hudson  Memorial 
Bridge)   

Bridge  Over  Tracks  of  Harlem 
Railroad  at  One  Hundred  and 
Fifty-third  Street,  The  Bronx.  . 


1,747,492  50      1,747,492  50 


99,000  oo   

37,655  14   

9,762,500  00  9,762,500  00 

11,333,500  00  11,333,500  00 

10,075,500  00  10,075,500  00 

222,827  04  222,827  04 

270,740  59  270,740  59 

960,876  45  960.876  45 

1,037,505  05  1,037,505  05 

1.155.980  54  1,155,980  54 


79.500  00 


30,000  00 

99,000  00 
37,655  14 


'9.500  00 


20.000  00  20.000  00 


117 


Commitments. 

 A  


Total.  Prior  to         Subsequent  to 

January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


Widening  Bridge  Over  Harlem 
Railroad  at  One  Hundred  and 
Sixty-first  and  One  Hundred  and 
Seventy-seventh  Streets.  The 
Bronx   

Bridge  to  Carry  Jerome  Avenue 
Over  Mosholu  Parkway.  The 
Bronx   

Extension  of  Bridge  Over  Port 
Morris  Branch  Railroad  at  Elton 
Avenue^  One  Hundred  and  Sixty- 
seventh  Street  and  Washington 
Avenue,  The  Bronx  

Bridge  Over  Tracks  of  Harlem 
Railroad  and  Port  Morris  Branch 
Thereof,  Connecting  Melrose 
Avenue  from  One  Hundred  and 
Sixty-third  to  One  Hundred  and 
Sixty-fifth  Street  

Bridge  Over  Harlem  Railroad  and 
Bronx  River  at  Two  Hundred 
and  Twenty-second  Street  

Bridges  in  Connection  with  De- 
pression of  Port  Morris  Branch 
Railroad   

Bridge  Over  Tracks  of  New  Haven 
Railroad  at  Westchester  Avenue. 

Temporary  Bridge  Over  Bronx 
River  at  Westchester  Avenue.  .  . 

Permanent  Bridge  Over  Bronx 
River  at  Westchester  Avenue.  .  . 

Bridge  Over  Bronx  River  at  One 
Hundred  and  Seventy-seventh 
Street   


67,000  00    67,000  00 

3,000  00    3,000  00 

25,000  00    25,000  00 

500  00  500  00   

12,500  00    12,500  00 

184,000  00  184,000  00   

30,000  00  30,000  00   

1,000  00  1,000  00   

286,948  72  286,948  72   

28.000  00  28,000  00   


118 


Commitments. 


Total. 


Bridge  Across  Bronx  River  and 
Approaches  to  Bridge  Over  Har- 
lem Railroad  at  Two  Hundred 
and  Thirty-third  Street  

Highway  Bridge  Over  Bronx 
River,  from  Becker  to  Wakefield 
Avenue   

Bridge  to  Extend  One  Hundred 
and  Eighty-ninth  Street  Over 
Harlem  Railroad  

Approaches  to  Bridges  Over  Xew 
York  Central  Railroad  and  New 
York  and  Putnam  Railroad  at 
Depot  Place  and  West  One  Hun- 
dred and  Seventy-seventh  Street. 

Bridge  Over  Eastchester  Bay  in 
Pelham  Bay  Park  

Bridge  to  Replace  Eastchester 
Bridge  Over  Hutchinson's  River 

Bridge  Over  Gowanus  Canal  at 
Hamilton  Avenue,  Union  Street, 
Third  Street  and  Ninth  Street, 
Construction   

Bridge  Over  Gowanus  Canal  (as 
Above)  — 
Damages,  Change  of  Grade .... 
Damages,  Change  of  Grade.  .  .  . 

Bridge  Across  Prospect  Avenue  at 
Seeley  Street,  Brooklyn  

Reconstructing  Floor.  Bridge  Over 
Wnllabout  Canal.  Washington 
Avenue   

Newtown  Creek  Bridge  at  Vernon 
Avenue   


Prior  to         Subsequent  to 
January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


169,500  00         169,500  00 


1,000  00 


16,000  00  16,000  00 


135,000  00  135,000  00 

476,500  00  476.500  00 

9,417  23   

455,000  00  455,000  00 


268,544  65         268,544  65 
89,306  36  89,306  36 

16.017  50  16.017  50 


6,000  00   

957,071  77        957.071  77 


1,000  00 


9,417  28 


6.000  00 


119 


Commitments. 

r  A  

Total.               Prior  to  Subsequent  to 

January  1.  January  1. 

1904.  1904. 

Bridge  Over  Flushing  Creek,  Be- 
tween    Jackson     Avenue  and 

Broadway                                               355,000  00         355,000  00   

Bridge  Across  Dutch  Kills  Creek 
on    Line    of    Borden  Avenue, 

Queens                                                  133,500  00    133,500  00 

Total  for  Bridges               $10,950,183  54  $40,435,811  17  $514,372  37 


For  Public  Works,  Streets  and  Roads. 


Total. 


Commitments. 


Prior  to         Subsequent  to 
January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


Broadway  Parkways,  Fifty-ninth 
to  Manhattan  Street.  Iron  Fences 

Delancey  Street.  Bowery  and  Nor- 
folk Street,  Improvement  of 
Roadway   

Park  Avenue  Improvement,  Forty- 
fifth  to  Fifty-sixth  Street  

Seventh  Ave  nue  Improvement,  One 
Hundred  and  Tenth  to  One  Hun- 
dred and  Fifty-third 'Street .  .  .  . 

Broadway  Improvements,  One 
Hundred  and  Thirty-fifth  to  One 
Hundred  and  Sixty-ninth  Street. 


$1,000  00   

23,200  00   

120,000  00  $120,000  00 

239,000  00   

38,000  00   


$1,000  00 


239,000  00 


120 


Commitments. 


Total. 


Prior  to         Subsequent  to 
January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


Extension  of  Riverside  Drive  to 
Boulevard  Lafayette  

Riverside  Drive  Extension  and  Im- 
provement, from  One  Hundred 
and  Fifty-eighth  Street  to  Henry 
Hudson  Memorial  Viaduct, 
Plans,  etc  

Riverside  Drive,  Construction  of 
Extension  North  of  One  Hun- 
dred and  Fifty-fifth  Street  to 
Henry  Hudson  Memorial  Viaduct 

Repairing  Retaining  Wall,  West 
Side  of  Boulevard  Lafayette, 
Near  One  Hundred  and  Eighty- 
first  Street  

Rebuilding  Retaining  Wall,  West 
Side  of  Fort  Washington  Avenue 

Street  Signs,  Manhattan  

Park  Avenue  Improvement,  Above 
One  Hundred  and  Sixth  Street.  . 

Sodding  Plots,  Prospect  Avenue, 
The  Bronx  

Sodding  Plots,  Longwood  Avenue, 
The  Bronx  

Change  of  Grade  Damage  Commis- 
sion, Twenty-third  and  Twenty- 
fourth  Wards  

Change  of  Grade  Crossing  at 
Broadway,  New  York  Central 
Railroad   

Transverse  Roads  at  Tremont  Ave- 
nue, Burnside  Avenue  and  Kings- 
bridge  Road,  in  Connection  with 
Grand  Boulevard  and  Concourse 


3,536,871  03      8,536,871  03 


37,000  00 
58,000  00 

10,000  00 

11,000  00 
30,000  00 

621  08 

5,000  00 

1,000  00 

401,500  00 

9,720  51 


256,200  00         256,200  00 


401.500  00 


37,000  00 


58,000  00 


11,000  00 
30,000  00 

621  08 

5,000  00 

1,000  00 


9,720  51 


121 


Commitments. 


Total. 


Transverse  Roads  at  East  One 
Hundred  and  Sixty-fifth  Street, 
East  One  Hundred  and  Sixty- 
seventh  Street,  Burnside  Avenue 
and  East  Two  Hundred  and 
Fourth  Street,  in  Connection 
with  Grand  Boulevard  and  Con- 
course   35,000  00 

Damages  to  Property  on  One  Hun- 
dred and  Seventy-seventh  Street, 
Abolishing  Grade  Crossings,  etc.  92,012  50 

Fund  for  Payment  of  Assessments 

Imposed  Against  City   1,000,000  00 

Relaying  Water  Main  in  Southern 
Boulevard,  Near  One  Hundred 
and  Forty-first  Street   13,650  00 

Macadamizing  Crotona  Avenue  in 

Crotona  Park   25,000  00 

Improvement  of  Steps  at  One  Hun- 
dred and  Sixty-sixth  Street,  Be- 
tween Fulton  and  Franklin  Ave- 
nues, The  Bronx   7,600  00 

Acquiring  Right  of  Way  for  New 
Route  of  Spuvten  Duyvil  and 
Port  Morris  Railroad   551,025  00 

Rebuilding  Retaining  Wall,  East 
Side  of  Edgecombe  Avenue,  One 
Hundred  and  Forty-seventh  to 
One  Hundred  and  Forty-eighth 
Street    20,500  00 

Depot  Place,  The  Bronx,  Abolish- 
ing Grade  Crossings,  Awards 
for  Damages   8,544  00 


Prior  to 
January  1, 
1904. 


Subsequent  to 
January  1 , 
1904. 


92,012  50 
1,000,000  00 

13,650  00 
25,000  00 


551,025  00 


8.544  00 


',600  00 


20,500  00 


122 


Commitments. 


Total. 


Prior  to 
January  1, 
1904. 


Subsequent  to 
January  1, 
1904. 


Palisade  Avenue,  The  Bronx,  Dam- 
ages, Change  of  Grade   51,207  75 

Atlantic     Avenue  Improvement, 

Brooklyn    424,500  00 

Street  Signs,  Brooklyn   5,000  00 

Shore  Road,  Brooklyn,  Completion 

of   101,500  00 

Abolishing  Grade  Crossings,  High- 
ways and  Railroads  in  Brooklyn  1,250,000  00 

Paving  Farmers'  Square,  Wall- 
about  Market   4,000  00 

Opening,  Improving,  etc.,  Bedford 

Avenue,  Brooklyn   325,469  64 

Repaying    Under    Chapter  475, 

Laws  of  1895   10,000  00 

Paving  Jerome  Avenue   4,000  00 

Repaying  Eighty-sixth  Street.  .  .  .  32,500  00 

Repaying  Streets,  Manhattan   5,554,850  00 

Repaying  Streets,  The  Bronx   1,464,800  00 

Deficiencies,  in  Assessments,  Town 

of  New  Lots,  Brooklyn   36,120  21 

Repaying  Streets,  Brooklyn  

Repaying  Streets,  Queens   1,645,200  00 

Repaying  Streets,  Richmond   1,399,000  00 

Fund  for  Street  and  Park  Open- 
ings   

Belmont  Avenue  Sewer,  Extension 

of,  etc.,  The  Bronx   10,500  00 

Approving  Sewerage  System,  The 

Bronx    35,000  00 

Approving  Sewerage  System,  The 
Bronx   


424,500  00 


1,250,000  00 


.  325,469  64 

10,000  00 
4,000  00 
32,500  00 
1,913,000  00 
414,800  00 

36,120  21 

7,359,000  00  2,160,000  00 
310,000  00 
161,000  00 

19,932,634  37     12,381,345  09 


51,207  75 

5,000  00 
101,500  00 

4,000  00 


3,641,850  00 
1,050,000  00 


5,199,000  00 
1,335,200  00 
1,238,000  00 

7,551,289  28 

10,500  00 

35,000  00 

30.000  00 


123 


Total. 


Commitments. 


Prior  to         Subsequent  to 
January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


Drainage  and  Sewer  District  Plans, 
The  Bronx  

Sewer  in  Forty-second  Street  and 
Hudson  River.  Manhattan  

Sewer  in  Park  Avenue,  South  of 
One  Hundred  and  Fifty-third 
Street,  The  Bronx  

Reconstructing,  etc.,  Sewer  in  East 
One  Hundred  and  Sixty-ninth 
Street   

Reconstruction  of  Sewers,  Man- 
hattan   

Construction  of  Webster  Avenue 
Relief  Sewer,  The  Bronx  

Rebuilding  Sewer  in  East  One 
Hundred  and  Forty-ninth  Street, 
The  Bronx  

Sewer  in  Kent  Avenue  and  Division 
Street,  Outlet,  Brooklyn  

Construction  of  Sewers,  Borough 
of  Brooklyn  

Paving,  etc.,  Bridges  Over  Harlem 
River  Branch  of  New  Haven 
Railroad,  The  Bronx  


47,110  00    47,110  00 

36,000  00    36,000  00 

18,500  00    18,500  00 

28,600  00    28,600  00 

269,000  00    269,000  00 

497,500  00    497,500  00 

75,000  00    75,000  00 

11,000  00    11,000  00 

803,500  00  300,000  00  503,500  00 

3,000  00    3,000  00 


Total  for  Public  Works, 

Streets  and  Roads   $47,995,936  09  $25,762,537  47  $22,233,398  62 


124 


For  Department  of  Health. 


C'oiinnitmriits. 


Total. 


Prior  to         Subsequent  to 
January  1,        January  I, 
1904.  1904. 


Health  Department  Building  Fund    $1,879,500  00    $1,085,000  00       $791,500  00 

Steamboat  for  Transportation  of 
Patients  Affected  with  Con- 
tagious Diseases,  etc   67,000  00    67,000  00 

Site  and  Building  for  Sanitarium 
for  Tubercular  Patients,  Orange 

County   318,500  00    318,500-00 


Total,  Health  Department    $2,265,000  00    $1,085,000  00    $1,180,000  00 


For  Fire  Department. 


Total. 


Commitments. 

<  A  > 

Prior  to         Subsequent  to 
January  1,        January  1, 
1901.  190i. 

  $106,150  00 

  25,000  00 

$500,000  00  710,000  00 
  1,188,700  00 

  19,000  00 

  95,500  00 

  3,000  00 


New  Hose,  Wagons,  etc   $106,150  00 

Fire    Alarm    Telegraph  System, 

Manhattan    25,000  00 

For  Sites,  Buildings  and  Telegraph 

System    1,210,000  00 

For  Sites  and  Buildings   1,188,700  00 

Sites    and    Buildings,  Manhattan 

and  The  Bronx   19,000  00 

New   Apparatus,   Manhattan  and 

The  Bronx   95,500  00 

Purchase     of     New  Apparatus, 

Brooklyn    3,000  00 


125 


( lommitments. 


Total.  Prior  to         Subsequent  to 

January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


Sites  and  Buildings.  Brooklyn  and 

Queens    210,500  00         210,500  00   

Fire    Alarm    Telegraph  System, 

Queens    62,600  00    62,600  00 

Extension  of  Fire  Alarm  System. 

Queens,     Including  Apparatus 

for  Volunteer  Companies   64,000  00    61,000  00 

Construction  of  New  Fireboat   8,500  00    8,500  00 

Construction,  etc.,  of  Fireboats..  .  .         325,000  00    325,000  00 

Placing  Fireboat  "  Seth  Low  "  in 

Condition  for  Service  '.  22,500  00    22,500  00 

Fire    Alarm    Telegraph  System, 

Richmond    23,500  00    23,500  00 

Boroughs  of  Brooklyn  and  Queens, 
Sites,  Erection  of,  etc.,  Addi- 
tions to  Buildings  for  an  Exten- 
sion of  Paid  System   155,500  00    155.500  00 


Total,  Fire  Department..     $3,519,450  00       $710,500  00    $2,808,950  00 


For  Docks  and  Ferries. 


Commitments. 

 A  


Total.  Prior  to  Subsequent  to 

January  1,  January  1, 

1 904.  1 904. 


Dock  Fund   $41,404,422  00    $5,614,689  93  $35,789,732  07 


Total.  Docks  and  Ferries.  $11,101,122  00     $5,611,689  93  $35,789,732  07 


126 


For  Department  of  Correction. 


Commitments. 


Total. 


Permanently  Bettering  and  Im- 
proving Harts  Island  and  the 
Buildings  Thereon  

New  Boilers,  Second  District 
Prison   

Repairing  Steamboats  

Purchase  of  a  New  Steamboat.  .  .  . 

Construction  and  Equipment  of 
Steamboat   

Total,  Department  of  Cor- 
rection   


$40,000  00 

3,500  00 

30,000  00 

600  00 

3,000  00 


$77,100  00 


Prior  to         Subsequent  to 
January  1,        January  1, 
1901.  1901. 


$40,000  00 

3,500  00 

30,000  00 

600  00 

3,000  00 


$77,100  00 


For  Department  of  Public  Charities. 


Total. 


Commitment^. 


Prior  to         Subsequent  t( 
January  1,        January  1. 
1904.  1901. 


New  Steamboat   $65,500  00 

Repairs  to  Steamboat  "  Thomas  S. 

Brennan  ;'    22,400  00 

Total,     Department  of 

Public  Charities   $87,900  00 


$65,500  00 
22,400  00 

$87,900  00 


127 


For  Police  Department. 


Total, 


Commitments. 

,  A  > 

Prior  to         Subsequent  to 
January  1,        January  1. 
1904.  1904. 

$558,720  00  $1,488,200  00 
  61,000  00 

  20,000  00 

  13,000  00 

$558,720  00    $1,582,200  00 


For  Sites  and  Buildings   $2,016,920  00 

For  Improving,  etc.,  Station  Houses  61.000  00 
General  Repairs,  etc.,  to  Steamboat 

"  Patrol  "    20,000  00 

Two  Additional  Power  Launches..  13,000  00 


Total,  Police  Department    $2,140,920  00 


For  Street  Cleaning. 


Tota 


Commitments. 


Prior  to 
January  1 
1904. 


Subsequent  to 
January  1. 
190  1. 


New  Stock  or  Plant.  Manhattan 
and  The  Bronx  

Property  for  Stable,  Northwest 
Corner  of  Eightieth  Street  and 
Avenue  B,  Manhattan  

Property  on  East  One  Hundred 
and  Eighty-ninth  Street,  The 
Bronx   

Incinerating  Plant.  Manhattan.... 

New  Stock  or  Plant,  Brooklyn.  .  .  . 

Site  for  and  Construction  of  Stable, 
Brooklyn   

Two  Automobiles  


$814,595  00       $193,245  00       $621,350  00 


71.000  00 


53,500  00 
30,000  00 
353,000  00 

296,500  00 
4,000  00 


30,000  00 
83,750  00 

296,500  00 
4,000  00 


71.000  00 

53,500  00 
269,250  00 


12S 


Commitments. 


Total.  Prior  to         Subsequent  to 

January  1,        January  1. 
1904.  1001. 


Three  or  More  Autos                                 11.6*50  00    11,650  00 

New  Stock  or  Plant,  Queens                      33,503  92  33,503  92   

Crematory,  Queens                                   11,550  00    11,550  00 

New  Stock  or  Plant,  Richmond.  .  .  179,631  00  101.634  00  78,000  00 


Total,  Street  Cleaning. .  .     $1,858,932  92       $742,632  92     $1,116,300  00 


For  Miscellaneous  Purposes. 


Commitments. 

f  A  1 

Total.  Prior  to         Subsequent  to 

January  1,        January  1, 
1904.  1904. 


Expenses  of  Commissioners  of  Esti- 
mate and  Appraisal   $1  1,000  00  $9,000  00  $5,000  00 

Metropolitan  Sewerage  Commission  20,000  00    20,000  00 

Expense   of   Commission   on  Im- 
provements, etc.,  Jamaica  Bay.  .  25,000  00    25,000  00 

Comfort  Station,  Madison  Square 

Park,  Manhattan   1,000  00    1,000  00 

Public  Comfort  Stations — 

Manhattan    215,000  00         215,000  00   

Brooklyn    43,000  00  43,000  00   

Queens    1,000  00    1.000  00 

To  Provide  for  Uncollected  Taxes .  3,000,000  00      3,000,000  00   

Storage  Yard,  Park  Avenue  and 
One    Hundred    and  Eightieth 

Street,  etc.,  The  Bronx   169,500  00    169.500  00 

Garage  Under  Brooklyn  Bridge..  1.000  00    1.000  00 


129 


Commitments. 


Total. 


Prior  to 
January  1, 
1904. 


Subsequent  to 
January  1, 
1904. 


[mp  roving  Sanitary  Conditions, 
Gowanus  Canal.  Brooklyn  

Monument  in  Memory  of  Prison 
Ship  Martyrs  

Municipal  Asphalt  Repair  Plant, 
Brooklyn  

Alterations,  etc.,  Rooms  Leased  for 
Eighth  District  Court.  West- 
chester, The  Bronx  

Topographical  Bureau — 

The  Bronx  

Brooklyn  

Queens   

Richmond  

Map  or  Plan  of  Portion  of  Second. 
Third  and  Fourth  Wards, 
Queens   

Map  or  Plan  of  Ward  1,  and  Parts 
of  Wards  2,  3,  4,  5,  Richmond .  . 

Carnegie  Libraries,  Original  Stock 
of  Books— 
Manhattan,     The     Bronx  and 

Richmond   

Brooklyn  

Queens   

Acquisition  of  Property  in  Connec- 
tion with  Depressing  Tracks  of 
Port  Morris  Railroad  Through 
St.  Mary's  Park,  The  Bronx. .  .  . 

Corporation  Yard  for  Bureau  of 
Sewers,  Brooklyn  


65  1.000  00 

46,272  15 
25,000  00 


251,000  00 
30,000  00 


100,000  00 
75,000  00 


99,257  89 
27,200  00 
18,500  00 


7,100  00 


99,257  89 
27,200  00 
18,500  00 


60,000  00 


654,000  00 
46,272  15 
25,000  00 

4,000  00 

251,000  00 
30,000  00 
850,000  00 
504,000  00 

100,000  00 
75,000  00 


Total    for  Miscellaneous 

Purposes   $6,240,830  04    $3,471,957  89 


,100  00 


$2,768,872  15 


130 


Summary. 


Commitments. 


Total.  Prior  to         Subsequent  to 


January  1 

,        January  1, 

1904. 

1904. 

dior»  ^of:  nf\o 

$39,025,098 

20 

»pl  8,355, 101  88 

$21,209,030  38 

Rapid  Transit  

19,440,825 

18 

16,051,222  38 

3,389,602  80 

K  K  f\  9  Q  O  Q.  C\ 
0  0 ,0OO yiiOKj 

Zi) 

oo,  /  o  /  ,oUU  »0 

City  Parks,  Public  Places, 

etc  

9,708,540 

08 

2,925,386  80 

6,783,153  28 

Public  Buildings  

27,312,420 

28 

18,765,751  87 

8,546,668  41 

40,950,183 

54 

40,435,811  17 

514,372  37 

Public  Works,  Streets  and 

Roads  

47,995,936 

09 

25,762,537  47 

22,233,398  62 

Department  of  Health  

2,265,000 

00 

1,085,000  00 

1,180,000  00 

Fire  Department  

3,519,450 

00 

710,500  00 

2,808,950  00 

41,404,422 

00 

5,614,689  93 

35,789,732  07 

Department  of  Correction. . 

77,100 

00 

77,100  00 

Department       of  Public 

Charities   

87,900 
2,140,920 

00 

87,900  00 
1,582,200  00 

00 

558,720  00 

1,858,932 

92 

742,632  92 

1,116,300  00 

Miscellaneous  Purposes. .  .  . 

6,240,830 

04 

3,471,957  89 

2,768,872  15 

Total  

$298,265,788  64 

$151,330,602  31 

$146,935,186  33 

Note — The  actual  issue  of  Corporate  Stock  from  January  1,  1904,  to  Novem- 
ber 1,  1908,  was  $298,945,094.84. 


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